
Glass '" 



THE "*" 

TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE ANY LXTEREST IN THE WELFARE, THE 
POWER, THE GLORY, OR THE HAPPINESS OF THE 

— — »8 © e«<- — 



" UNITKD WE STAND— DIVIPED W&*ALL." «? T ^ 



" Frenzied be the head — palsied be the arm — of him who attempts to dissolve the 
Union." — Gen. Eaton, the hero of Dernc. 

" I have been reared in a revp/ential affection for the Union. My imagination has 
led me to look into the distant future,' and there to contenjplate the greatness ol free 
America. 

" I have beheld her walking on the waves of the mighty deep, carrying along vvith 
her tidings of great joy to distant nations. I have seen lier overturning the sljong 
places of despotism, und restoring to man his long-lost rights. Wo, Vio^ betid< that 
man who shall sow the seeds of Jisitnion amone us ! better for him he had never 
been born. Jf he call upon the /itouiiiains to hide him—naij, if he bury himsdf in 
the very centre of the earth, the india nation of mankind will Jind him out, and blast 
him with its lifshtnings." — Tlie Hon. John Tyler, formerly Governor of, and atpicsent 
Senator ol the U. Stales from, Virginia. 

" Cherish a cordial, habitual and immoveable attacliment to the union ; accustominff 
yourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium ofyour political safety and iiros. 
perity ; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any 
event be' abandoned; and indignantly frcwiiing ujion the Jirst dawrdno; of evti t, at- 
tempt to alienale any fait of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble Ihs sacre I ties 
which now link togethei <Afl roj lows paris."- —Gener.l Washington's Farewell Adilress. 

" The union. It must be presei«^ed." — President Jackson. 

" The union. Nothing short of insufferable oppression, actually felt, and not infer- 
red from doubtful premises, should make a wise man wish its dissolution."— .A///ie« 
Lowndes, Esq. 

" Permit me, Sir, to make one or two observations upon the competency of the State 
governments to resist the authority or the execution of a law of Congress. What kind 
of resistance can they make whicli is constitutional ? I know of but o.ve kind; and 
THAT IS BY ELECTIONS. The People and the States have a right to change the 
members of the National Legislature, and in that way, AND IN THAT ALONE, 
can they effect a change of the measures of this Government. It is true th«;re is 
another kind of resistance which may be made, but is UNKNOWN TO THE 
C> )NST1TUTI0N. This resistance depends upon physical force — it is an ippeal 
to the sword; and by t' e sword v.ust that appeal be decided, and not by the provi. 
sion? of the Constitation."— VV. H, Crawford, Esq., Ex-Stcretary of the. Traiiuiyaf 
the United States. ' • 



BY A CITIZEN OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



SECOND EDITION. 

Printed by J. BIOREN, llSChesnut^t. 

Se'^tember !, 1S.32. 
-~~— ■ ■i»<«i 

[Qraiuitou».] 



^> 



PREFACE. 



The charge of fickleness will lie against me for once more taking up the 
pen on this subject ; as it is only a month since I took my leave of it, as I 
thought for ever. For this charge I care not. The magnitude of the 
subject and object affords full justification. I am led to this trespass by an 
ardent desire to endeavour to preserve the peace and union of the countiy, 
and bv the horror which the " deep damnation" of a dissolution of the Union, 
with all its tremendous consequences, is so well calculated to excite. 

The high degree of exasperation, falling little short of frenzy, that pre- 
vails on the subject of the protecting system in South Carolina, cannot ex- 
cite much astonishment, when we consider the means that have been em- 
ployed to produce it. Never was a cause advocated with more zeal, 
ardour, and industry, nor with a more liberal expenditure of money, than 
has been the cause of nullification, and by necessary consequence, of a dis- 
solution of the Union ; for as sure as there is a heaven above us, so sure 
the present measures of the nullifiers will eventuate in a dissolution, unless 
energetic measures of counteraction be adopted. One item of expense, 
altogether unexampled in this country, within the same space of time, 
deserves attention. About a year since, a resolution was adopted bv the 
" state rights' party," to print 10,000 pamphlets per month. At three 
cents each, which is a moderate estimate, the expense per annum would be 
$3,600. Agents, it is confidently asserted, are employed to distribute them, 
not merely in South Carolina, but in the neighbouring states, in order to 
induce them to make common cause. This item costs, probably, half 
the amount of the printing, making a total of five thousand dollars, to pre- 
pare the public mind for a forcible repeal, by a single state, of a law of 
the United States, passed, as is asserted, by a " reckless nujjority.'" This 
is a favourite phrase — and it is no new case. All '■'■majorities^'' that will 
not let the minority rule, are stigmatized as " rcckless^^ and tyrannical. 

In the composition of these pamphlets, talents of the first order are em- 
ployed. However fallacious, they are to the last degree plausible, and 
admirably calculated ad captandum. It is easy to conceive how powerful 
must be the effect of such a system, steadily and zealously pursued under 
the auspices of some of the most talented and influential men in the coun- 
try. Their efforts are already powerfully felt in Georgia, and are extend- 
ing to Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia. 

Some idea may be formed of the unholy means employed to poison the 
minds of the citizens of South Carolina — to inflame their passions against 
their fellow citizens — and to prepare them for rebellion, from the follow- 
ing statement taken from the Charleston Mercury, by which the public 
are persuaded that the federal government raises taxes from the poor to 
the amount of 40 per cent, of their respective incomes ! 



4 CIS80&VTI0N OP THE UNION. 

" Federal Officers and Non-Convention Men are so anxious to support themselves^ 
and fatten upon the industrious men's means ; and knowing ihal these are the principal 
sufferers, they avoid noticing- the poor man's expenses, and publish that of the nth, 
who are com))arativcly lew, and scarcely leel tiie tariff, as their purchases amount to 
a small portion ot their income. It is tliis ovcrwhehning majority of Southerners, 
namely, the poor and industrious, that Mr. M'Duffie alludes to, when he says, the taxes 
are levied upon exports. Most planters, mechanics, manuficlurers, and tradesmen, do 
not make, these Colonization and Tariff days, more than their tiiiuilies' necessities re- 
quire- -^s, ibr example, if a man or widow makes and spends 

6i) dollars in cash, 20 dollars of it will be taker, aioay by the tariff, as a tax for Northern 
Roads and Canals, being 4J per cent; of course leaving the owner but thirty dollars 
to meet family expenses'. 

lUO dollars, deduct Tax, 40, leaves the ower 60 
300 do. do. 120, do. do. 180 
500 do. do. 200, do. do. 300 
700 do. do. 230, do. do. 420 
1000 do. do. 400, do. do. 600 
" My means being small, family large, and expenditure necessarily amounting to my 
income, (300 dollars) on which I pay taxes 120 dollars, leaving my family but 180 dol- 
lars, I have made out the above statement for the inibrmation of those similarly situated 
with myself, that they may know what proportion of their hard earnings is taken under 
the tariff law, to enrich the Northern Monopohsts, and fatten Southern Federal Offi- 
cers, and which is neuer reiucjiec? in the shape of money to the Wife and Children of 
an abused * " SOUTHERNER. 

"N. B. — Thenext question to he agitated, if tee submit now, loillie the Colonization 
Act — mother word for Emancipation." 

It is more than probable that few of our citizens are aware of the pre- 
cipice which yawns to swallow up the Union, and how near we are to our 
blessed confederacy being " resolved into its original elennents." For 
the inlormation of all such as are ignorant on the subject, it cannot be im- 
proper to state the views of the nullifiers of South Carolina, as boldly de- 
velop(;d by themselves. 

Should they have a majority in the next legislature, as is almost certain, 
from the extraordinary exertions they are making, it is intended to pass an 
act to annul the tariff", in the following form as stated in the Charleston 
Evening Post, one of their leading papers, on the 10th ult. : 

*' Whereas, the freedom of the citizens of these States from all taxation beyond that 
requinul for the necessary wants of Government, is one of the most sacred amongst 
the rights and privileges guaranteed to them by the Federal Constitution, and the [)re- 
Bervation whereof is essential to secure the liberty of the people, and to protect the 
Constitution from violation — And, whereas it is well known, and undeniable, that a 
duty of 12 per cent, on our imports is sufficient lor the wants o!' Government : 

"Z?' it enacted; That if any person s\\i,\\ collect or receive, or be aiding or abetting 
in collecting or receiving any amount o'' duties on the imjwrts made into tiiis State be- 
yond the said rate of 12 per cent, r.d valorem, every sueli person so offending, s''jU be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be apprehended, committed, and tried there- 
for, as in other cases of misdemeanors, be ore the Court o-' Common Pleas and General 
SessiouK of this State; and being thereof convicted by the verdict of a Jury, shall be 
adjudged to suffer imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, and shall pay a fine 
not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ; which imprisonment and fine shall be assessed 
by a Jury ! 

"And if any person shall be arrested or imprisoned, or his property or his goods 
seized, for, or on account of the non-piyment of i higher rate of duties, such person 
may ajijily to the said Court, or any Judge thereof in vacation, for a writ of Pabeas 
Corpus lor the release of his person, or a Writ of Replevin ibr tlie release ofliis goods, 
which writs shall forthwith be granted him as of common right, upon i>ropcr affidavits 
of the facta alleged ; and it shall be the duty of the said Court, or the said .Judge, on the 



©MBOHJTION OP TH« UW105. 5 

return of the said writ, to liberate tlie said individual, or his said goods, on payment of 
the said 12 per cent. 

" And lie it further enacted. That all Bonds sriven for a higher rate of duties than 
the s>.id 1:2 per cent, sliall be, and are hereby declared to be, void in this State, so far as 
tlie condition of said Bond.-: sliall exceed t!ie said r.te ol 1:2 per cent — and all juries in 
this St..tc are authorized and directed to tind accordingly." 

Should the President dare attempt to enforce the execution of the tarifFact 
by the n.eans the coiistitution has |)laced at his command for that purpose, 
the next step in the ladderof (hsso!ution,is to adopt the following resolu- 
tion, which is rec mmended in one of th^ published tracts: 

" liesolved, That if, in consequence of the proceedings of South C;irolina, to protect 
her eitizens against the operation of this unjust and unconstitutional system of 1 .ws, 
any attempt to use force and coercion against this State, shall take pl.ce by direction 
of the General government, it shall lictlie boundeii duty of the Governor ofthis Stale, to 
write fbrthvvitli to the President of the United States, and to inform him, that on the ex- 
piration of one calendar month from the date of that iuibrmation, the State of South 
Carolina will be proclaimed and declared to be no longer a member of the North 
American United States, unless such force and coercion be instantly withdrawn. And 
the Governor, in case of its continuance, notwithstanding such information, shall issue 
his proclamation accordingly on the day designated, that the State of South Carolina 
is, and will continue thenceforward to be in all respects, sovereign and independent, 
and no longer remains a member of the American Union." 

It is asserted that they count largely on foreign interference to protect 
them against the attempts of the general government to coerce them. — 
This idea is rendered probable by the following view of the subject, taken 
from the Meicury, the most powerful advocate of nullii'ication: 

"Suppose CharLston A frff port, exacting no duties on entry or exit — or, at the 
very utmost, five per cent, ad valorem, on imports — a free port, where tl.c vessels of 
every nation upon earth might bring, without. let or hindrance, what they h^ve to sell, 
and purcliase ti-eely what we can supjly 1 iclwt a city icould it be in Jive years ! what 
a depot ;br the transathntic world ! what a scene for commercial agency ! And what 
nation would molest a free port, which is the port of every nation — which all nations 
are deeply interested in promoting and guaranteeing? And what other taxes do we 
need, in that case, than the same taxes we now raise ? And what danger have we to 
fear? Who molests Lubec, Hamburgh, Bremen? Would Europe permit a free pout 

TO BE BLOCKADED ? A.VD WHERE ARE THE TAXES TO BE OBTAINED, TO FAY THE EXPENSES 
OF AN HOSTILE ATTACK UPON US BY OUR QUONDAM FRIENDS ?" 

What has been done or is doing, to counteract this system, fraught 
with the seeds of civil commotion, with all its tearful train of evils? Com- 
paratively very little. The Union party in the state, it is true, have 
displayed in their newspapers very considerable talent ; but it is then", as it 
is here : few read an.y newspapers hut those of their own party ; and there- 
fore the universal dissemination of the pamphlets, by the nullifiers, to 
friends and foes, gave tiie latter an iinrnen.se advantage over their anlago- 
ni-.is. And this advantage was prodigiously iiicreased by the fact that 
the Union party assumed the ground of the unconstitutionality and injustice 
of the protecting system. This was placing irresistible weapons in the 
hands of their adversaries. How retional men can hold this doctrine in 
opposition to the luminous view of the subject given by President Jackson, 
(to pass over all other arguments,) which, in the minds of men {ree from 
prejudice, settles the question for ever beyond the power of cavil, it is 

1* 



4 BISSOiUTIOlf OF THE XJNIOIC. 

<3ifficult to conceive. This view has been frequently quoted, but cannot 
be too often presented to the public eye. 

"The power to impose duties on imports originally belonged to the several states. 
The light to adjust these duties, toith a view to the encouragement of domestic branches 
of industry, is so completely incidental to that power, that it is difficult to suppose the 
existence of one without the other The states have delegated their whole authority 
over imports to the general government without lirnitiition or restriction, saving the 
very inconsid'rable reservation relating to their inspection laws. This authority hav- 
ing thus entirely passed from the states, the right to exercise it for the purpose ot pro- 
tection, does not exist in them, and consequently, if it be not possessed by the general 
government, it must be extinct. Ol'R folitical system would thus present the ano- 
maly OF A PEOPLE STRIPPED OF THE RIGHT TO FOSTER THEIR OWN INDUSTRY; AND TO COUN 
TERACT THE MOST SELFISH AND DESTRUCTIVE POLICY WHICH MIGHT BE ADOPTED BY FOR- 
EIGN NATIONS. This surely cannot be the case : I'liis indispensable power, thus sur- 
rendered by the states, must be within the scope of the authority on this subject, express- 
ly delegated to Congress." — President Jackson's Message to Congress, Dec. 6, 1830. 

To this let me add the pointed admission of the Free Trade Conven- 
tion, the Delphic oracle of nullification, that ".Congress may countervail 
the regulations of a foreign power that may be hostile to our commerce." 

What has been done in the other states to disabuse the public mind in 
South Carolina, by the friends of the protecting system and of the peace 
and prosperity of tlie country, and the permanence of the Union ? 
Almost nothing. Tlie whole expenditure, directed particularly to the 
illumination of South Carolina, to counteract the efforts of the advocates 
of nullification, has not, from the middle of 1S28 till the same period of 
1831. exceeded the expenditure of two months in favour of nullification ! 
In the year 1828, when insurrectionary views fully developed themselves, 
and assumed a most formidable aspect — when we were threatened pub- 
licly, in addresses received with acclamation, with " the state rising in the 
majesty of its strength'^ — with '^ a renewal (f the scenes of the revolu- 
tion'^ — an attempt was made to produce a counteracting association in de- 
fence of the Union, at an expense of twenty-five dollars a head — and in the 
four great cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, there 
could not be found twenty, ten or even five, who would unite for such a 
holy purpose ; although application was made, at two ditierent periods, in 
the most urgent and impressive style, to from fifty to seventy wealthy 
individuals, all of them deeply interested in the protecting system. — 
Of course tlie project was abandoned. History can furnish but 
few instances of such dire insanity as regards personal interest, and 
such total indifference to the public welfare, as this case exhibits. 
The actual etfervescence of the public mind to the South may be in a great 
decree chargeable to this miserable neglect of duty- Even at present, 
when the evil approaches us nearer daily, and when the spirit of disaffec- 
tion is spreading widely, the same torpor, apathy, and parsimony prevail. 
In the expense of these publications I am unable to find a single person to 
unite ! ! ! So much more energy, ardour and liberality are displayed to 
pull down than to support the fabric of government! This, however, is 
nothing new. It has been the case at all times, — one thousand men have 
in all countries been more efficient to overturn, than ten thousand to up- 
hold a government. On one side there is unity of purpose and of action. 
The cause becomes to a certain degree a personal one. Whereas, on the 
other side, it is regarded as a public question, in which no individual has 



DISSOLUTIOIf OF THE UlHOIf. 7 

any particular interest — and, to use a very trite, but very just aphorism, 
" rohat is every body's business, is nobody's business.'' Two cases from 
history will sufficiently prove the correctness of this doctrine. When the 
Prince of Orange landed in England in 1637, not one man in ten, perhaps 
in a hundred, throughout the nation, had any idea ol a change of dynasty.* 
This applies to the Churchills, the Halifaxes, the Shrewsburys, the Go- 
dolphins, and most of those who figured under William and Mary. The 
utmost they looked for was to restrain the power of the bigot James with- 
in legal and constitutional limits. 

Again : — In the beginning of 1776, not one man in ten, perhaps not 
one in a hundred in the British provinces contemplated independence. — 
And the most popular man in the country could not at that time have pro- 
posed it with safety. 

And now, were the whole of the southern states polled, man by man, 
and the naked question put to them, whether they would tear down the 
sacred fabric of our government, the admiration of the civilized world, 
and have this noble nation, whose power, and influence, and glory are 
indissolubly coniiKCted with its union, divided into two, three or four sepa- 
rate republics, with jarring and hostile interests, the sport and instruments 
of the jealous nations of Europe, — there would, I have no doubt, be a ma- 
jority of ten, perhaps fifty to one against the deleterious measure — but it 
requires no spirit of prophecy to see clearly that unless the friends of a 
confederated government, not merely in the southern states, but through- 
out the Union, act with more zeal and energy, and concentration of effort 
to disabuse the public mind, the Union will not last two years. They may 
close their eyes to this fatal result ; but, I repeat, without they pursue 
a different system, they will soon be awakened to a hideous state of 
things, which will excite deep remorse suid anguish at their present torpor. 

"Nullification is a creature of circumstances. Its import is not yet settled. It is 
made to mean whatever will best suit tlie company in. which it is introduced. It has 
become a fashionable instrument in the hands of its advocates to play upon the pas- 
sions and prejudices of honest men, whose feelings they spare no pains, nor labor to 
rouse and animate. It flourishes most in towns and villagfes. Three or four of those 
nullifying gentlemen meet a company of highly respectable, honest men from the 
country, who, being perfectly honest themselves, are naturally led to believe every 
body else is so; and from that uncontaminated purity of mind which they have cher- 
ished through life, unacquainted with the fantastic tricks and stratagems of aspiring 
politicians, their honest credulity is practised upon. They are first informed, gravely, 
that they are laboring under heavy burdens from the tariff, of which they are totally ig- 
norant. To illustrate this latent burden, some nullifying philosopher is called, and af- 
ter a metaphysical lecture of half an hour long, he concludes by assuring them that 

THEY MOST UNDOUBTEDLY PAY, EVERY YEAR, FORTY BALES OF THEIR COTTON OUT OF EVERY 

HUNDRED, TO THE Yankees, as a bounty to their manufacturers; and that they will 
be ground into dust unless they will join the nullifiers, as the only means of putting it 
down." — Speech of Judge Smith, of South Carolina, Aug. 1st, 1831. 

* The question of installing the Prince as King, was carried in the House of Lords, 
after ardent debates, by a meagre majority of two— 51 to 4y.— Hume, vol. iv. p. 467. 



DZSSOXiUTZON OF THE UNION.'' 

NO. 1. 



This confederacy is young. Little more than half a century has rolled 
over its head, and yet three times has the ill-omened, deleterious, and 
let me add, thrice-accursed project of a dissolution of the Union been 
pressed on the public attention by discontented, disaffected, or ambitious 
men, desirous of change, and regardless of the warning voice of history, 
which, on its ensanguined pages, records the sad and sickening story of 
the desolating wars of conterminous states, destitute of any common umpire 
to decide their diflerences. It is only necessary to mention the Pelopeu- 
nesian wars, whereby Athens, the pride and glory of Greece, after an ardu- 
ous and protracted struggle of 27 years, was laid prostrate in the dust — the 
wars of Italy, till Rome swallowed up all her rivals in the boundless extent 
of her iron domination — the wars of the Picts and English, when the latter, 
in the extremity of their distress, invoked the aid of the Saxons, whotermi- 
nated the strife by the subjugation of those b}' whom they were invited into 
the island — the civil wars of the Italian republics, in the middle ages, in 
which the weaker party almost always called in the aid of some rival 
state, which generally, like the kite with the warlike frogs, seized upon 
and subjugated both of the contending parties — the border wars of Eng- 
land and Scotland — the wars in France before the establishment of one 
common government ruling over the whole nation — and though last, not 
least admonitory, the horrible wars among the soi-disarit republics in our 
own hemisphere. To the admonitions held out by these histories, nothing 
but the most dire infatuation can be deaf or dumb. 



FIRST PROJECT OF THE DISSOLUTIO]\ OF 

THE UNION. 



Thk first attempt was at aij early period, in the year 1796, only seven 
years after thrt organization of the government. A series of papers, with 
that view, appealed at Harttord, Conn, written by some citizens of high 
standing and considerable talent. The ground assumed was the impossi- 
bility of maintaining a permanent union between states so dissimilar in" 
habits, manners and custoiiis, a.* the people of the south were to thos© 
of the middle and eastern i^tates. The leading objection was the existence 
of slavery to the south, although at that period slavery existed in Cunnec- 
ticut, and in every other state in the union, except Massachusetts, where 

* A portion of this EsBay was originally published ia the year 1810. 



DISSOLUTION or THE UNION. 9 

it was annulled merely by the construction of that clause in the constitu- 
tion, wliicli declares that " all men are born free and equal." 

"J'he wickedness and hollowness of this plea are palpable from the fact, 
that slavery miglit have been abolished in Connecticut without much diffi- 
culty or iiiconvenieuce ; as the number of slaves then in that state was only 
about 20,000 — and had they been liberated by law, as has since been done 
in the state of New York, the owners would not have suffered much, if any, 
real injury — as the services of the negioes, if emancipated, could be pur- 
chased at but little more than they actually cost their masters for food and 
clothes. 

Extracts from an Essay signed PelJiam, in the Connecticut Cotiranf, published at Hart' 

ford, in Cnimecticut, repuhlished in the New World, a Philadelphia paper, printed 

by S. H. Smith, November 30, 17. iC. 

" We have reached a critical period in our political existence. The question must 
soon be decided, whether ice will continue a nation, at the expense even of our Union, or 
fink encumbered with the present inass of dilJiculty into confusion and slavery. On a 
subject so interesting as this, it is hazardous to speak. But it is still more hazardous 
to remain silent. 

" I think it will not be an easy task to discover any thing like an equivalent gamed 
by the Northern States, for the admission of the negroes into the mass of inhabitants in 
the Southern States, in order to swell the size of the representation in the general 
Congress. The impoitance of this point to the Southern States, will strikingly appear 
bv a very slight examination. NEGROES ARE IN ALL RESPECTS, EXCEPT 
IJNT REGARD TO LIFE AND DEATH, THE CATTLE OF THE CITIZENS OF 
THE SOUTHERN STATES, If the,/ icere sood for food, THE PROBABILITY IS, 
THAT EVEN THE POWER OF DESTROYING THEIR LIVES WOULD BE 
EN.IOYED BY THEIR OWNERS, AS FULLY AS IT IS OVER THE LIVES 
OF THEIR CATTLE. It cannot be, that their laws prohibit the owners from killing 
thdr slaves, because those slaves are human beings, or because it is regarded as a mor- 
al evil to destroy them. If that were the case, how can they justify their being treated 
in all other respects like brutes ? For it is in this point of view alone, that negroes in 
the Southern States, are considered in fact as ditFerent from cattle. They are bought 
and sold ; they are fed or kept hum^ry ; they are clothed or reduced to nakedness ; they 
are beaten, turned out to the fury of the tempest, and, lorn from their dearest connexions, 
toith as little remorse as if they were beasts of the field. On what principle, then, were 
they noticed among their masters in the scale of representation ? They have no inter- 
ests to protect ; no happiness to advance ; the laws afford them no security except for 
their lives ; and the government furnishes them with no advantages. If, to balance this 
claim, the Northern States had demanded, that three-fifths of the lohole nvmher of their 
horses and cattle should be added to the amount of free persons, the claim, doubtless, 
Avould have been rejected with indignation. But it was thought exjiedient that the 
Southern States should be indulged, in a claim equally absurd and unfounded. Where 
the equivalent rests, I am ignorant. 

" When it becomes a serious question, tvhether we shall give up our government, or 
PART WITH THE STATES SOUTH OF THE POTOMAC, no man north of that 
river, rohose heart is not thoroughly democratic, can hesitate what decision to make. That 
this question is nearly ripe for decision, there can be but little doubt. It is therefore 
time that the public mind should be employed in examining it attentively, in order, that 
when the period arrives, the decision may be made coolly and with firmness.'''' 

The nefarious project met with no countenance at that period, and was 
so completely frowned down by public opinion, that the projectors aban- 
doned it, and retired from the arena in^silence. 



10 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

SECOND PROJECT. 

When parties are disposed to revolt, there is no difficulty in finding 
a plea, to which eloquence and sophistry can give a colouring that may suf- 
fice to captivate the great mass of a community, who rarely take the pains 
necessary to investigate such subjects. Any grievance, real or imagina- 
ry, is sutficient. If real, it is magnified an hundred fold. If imaginary, 
confident assertion, and unceasing reiteration will gain credit for it, how- 
ever destitute of foundation. And it is no rare occurrence to find the 
wisest measures of government forming the leading features of the attacks 
by which it is attempted to be prostrated. 

The ground assumed during the administration of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Madison, was, that our government was under the contiol of Bonaparte, 
and subservient to his interests — and that England had done us no wrong, 
or, if she had, that she was disposed to repair our wrongs. One of the 
most outrageous pamphlets that appeared at this period was published in 
New York, under the title of " National Wrongs — set forth in a Letter 
addressed to James Madison. By a North American. New York. — 
Printed for the author — 1814." Behold the spirit of this fire-brand pub- 
lication. 

" If the impending negotiation with Great Britain is defeated by insidious artifice ; 
if the friendly and conciliating proposals of the enemy should not, from French subser- 
viency, or views of sectional ambition, be met throughout by a spirit of moderation and 
sincerity, so as to terminate THE INFAMOUS WAR which is scattering its horrors 
around us, and avert the calamities and di,stress of a disgraced country, it is necessary 
to apprize you, that such coriduct will he no longer borne with. The injured States xoill 
he compelled, hy every motive of duty, interest, and honour; by one manly exertio'n of 
their strength, TO DASH INTO ATOMS THE BOND OF TYRANNY. It will 
then be too late to retract. The die icill be cast. Freedom preserved. 

" A separation of the States will be an inevitable result. Motives numerous and ur- 
gent will demand that measure. As they originate in oppression, the oppressors must 
be responsible for the momentous and contingent events, arisins from THE DISSOLU- 
TION OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERACY, AND THE ERECTION OF SEP- 
ARATE GOVERNMENTS. It will be their work. While posterity will admire 
the independent spirit of the eastern section of our country, and, with sentiments of 
gratitude, enjoy the fruits of their firmness and wisdom — the descendants of the south 
and west, will have reason to curse the infatuation and folly of your councils. 

" Bold and resolute, lohen they step forth in the sacred cause of freedom and indepen, 
dence, the northern people will secure their object. No obstacle can impede them. No 
force can withstand their powerful arm. The most numerous armies will melt before 
their manly strength. 

" Does not the page of history instruct you„ that the feeble debility of the South nev- 
er could face the vigorous activity of the North ? Do not the events of past ages re- 
mind you of the valuable truth, that a single spark of Northern liberty, especially when 
enlightened by congenial commerce, will explode a whole atmosphere of sultry Southern 
despotism ? You well know the termination of the expedition of Xerxes, with his hun- 
dreds of thousands, agahist the Greeks. The commercial Athenians taught the de- 
bilitated tyrant of Asia, on tiie plains of Marathon, and at the strait of Salamis, of 
what exertions freedom is capable, when roused by oppression. The hardy Macedo- 
nians not only defeated and dispersed countless hordes of southern effeminacy, but 
traversed their coimtry at pleasure. 

" The aggregate strength of the South and West, if brought agaJ:>pi the North, would 
he driven into the ocean, or back to their oion sultry wilds — miii l';rr might think them- 
selves fortunate if they escaped other punishment than defeat, which their temerity would 
merit. While the one would strive to enslave, the other would fight for freedom. 
While the councils of llie one would be distracted with discordant interests, the deci- 



DISSOLUTION OP THE UNION. 11 

sitns of tlie other would be directed by one soul. Beware ! pause ! before you take the 
fatal plunge. 

" You have carried your oppressions to the utmost stretch. We will no longer sub- 
mit, liestore Uic constitution to its purity. Give us security for tbc future; indemni- 
ty lor the past. Abolish every tymniiical law. Make an iionourable peace. Revive 
our conunerce. Increase our navy. Protect our seamen. UNLESS YOU COM- 
PLY WITH THESE JUST DEMANDS, WITHOUT DELAY, WE WILL 
WITHDRA^V FROM THE UNION, SCATTER TO 'IHE WINDS THE BOND 
OF I'YRANNY, AND TRANSMl'I' TO POSTERITY, 'I'lIAT LIBERTY PUR- 
CHASED BY THE REVOLUTION." 

" It is said that to make a treaty of commerce with the enemy is to violate the Con- 
stitution antl to SEVER THE UNION. Are they not both already virtually destroy- 
ed ? Or in what state of existence would the}' be, should ive declare a neutrality, or 
even wilhliold taxes or men .'" — Boston Ceutinel, Dec. 17, 1814. 

'■'■ lly -A commercial ti eaty icith Englnud, which shall provide lor the admission of 
such states as may wish to come into it, and which shall prohibit England from 
making a treaty with the South and West, which does nOt grant us at least equal pri- 
vileges with herself, our conmierce will be f^ecured to us ; our standing in the Nation 
raised to its proper level ; and New England feelings icill no longer be snorted with, or 
her intf rests rioltitpil" — Ibid. 

''IF WE SUBMIT QUIETLY, OUR DESTRUCTION IS CERTAIN. If we 
oppose them, with a high-minded, and steady conduct, who will say that we shall not 
beat them back ? No one can suppose that a conjiict with a tyranny at home, would 
be as easy as witJi an enemy abroad. Put firmness will antici[)atc and prevent it. — 
Cowardice dreads it — and will surely bring it on at last. WHY THEN DELAY ? 
Why leave tiiat to chance which tirmness should command ? Will our wavering 
frighten government into compliance ?" — Ibid. 

" We must do it deliberately — and not from irritation at our wrongs or sufferings. 
And when wc have once entered on the high course of honour and INDEPENDENCE, 
let no diificulties stay our course, no dangers drive us back." — Ibid. 

" We must be no longer deafened by senseless clamours about A SEPARATION 
OF THE STATES."— Idem, Jan. 13, 1814. 

" Let no consideration whatever, my brethren, deter you at all times, and in all 
places, Irom execrating the present war. It is a war unjust, foolish, and ruinous. 
It is unjust, because GREAT BRITAIN HAS OFFERED US EVERY CON- 
CESSION, SHORT OF WHAT SHE CONCEIVES WOULD BE HER RUIN."— 
Rev. Mr. Gaidiner's Discourse, July 2.'3, 1812, page 5. 

" The Union has been long since virtually dissolved : And it is full time, that this 
part of the disunited states should take care of itself!!" — Idem, page 19. 

" The Israelites became weary of yielding the fruit of their labour to pamper their 
splendid tyrants. They lell their political woes. THEY SEPARATED— WHERE 
IS OUR MOSES I ! ! Where is the rod of his miracles ! .' ! ^^'here is our Aaron ! ! ! 
Alas ! no voice from the burning bush, has directed them here." — Rev. E. Parrish'a 
Discourse, delivered at Byfield, April 7, 1814, pao-c 18. 

" Alas ! WE HA^' E NO xMOSES I'O STRETCH HIS ROD OVER THE SEA! ! ! 
No Lebanon, nor Carmel, nor Zion, to invite us across the deep !" — Idem, page 14. 

It is by no means my intention to defend the insurrectionary movements 
in New England, during the late war : but that they were incomparably 
more justifiable than those in South Carolina at present, I hope to mako 
fully appear by a quotation from the " New Olive Branch." 

'• New England then depended for her prosperity ahnost altogether on 
commerce, as the government had, with snigular fatuity, never adequate- 
ly encouraged the vital interest of manufactures, the great handmaid and 
support of agriculture, for which we had so many advantages. The com- 
merce of the nation was almost entirely annihilated, and great distress in 
consequence prevailed in New England. Her ships were rotting at the 
wharves. Her capital lay idle. Real estate sunk in value in many in- 
stances, 20, 30, and 40 per cent. Many of our staples were in some do^ 



12 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

gree valueless ; and a portion of the population of the New England states 
was destitute of employment, by the total stagnation of commerce. This 
was a state of things calculated to drive a people to madness, and to pal- 
liate excesses and disaffection. 

" A comparison of the exports of some years previous to the war, with 
those at that period, will shed a flood of light on this interesting subject. 

" The exports, foreign and domestic, of the United States, for twelve 
years, 

1800 to 1811, inclusive, were . . . . $879,225,102 
Averaging $73,268,758 

« For 1809, '10, and '11 . . - - . . 180,278,036 

Average - - - - 60,092,678 



"In 1813 and 1814 . . ... 34,783,438 

Average , . , . . . 17,391,719 



"In 1814, domestic exports, ..... 6,782,272 

"Foreign . . . . . . . . 145,169 



Total for 1814, $6,927,441 

"This was a fearful foil from 60 or 70,000,000 dollars, to less than 
$7,0110,000. 

"Here was a state of ruin, actual and prospective ; and no likelihood 
of a speedy termination, as the British had so completely triumphed over 
France and all her allies, that their forces were liberated in Europe, to be 
let loose on us, to ravage our coasts, and complete the destruction of the 
little commerce that remained. 

"How immensely different is the case with the citizens of South Caro- 
lina ! It is a molehill compared with a mountain. Their grand staple 
commands cash, and a steady market, and is at about tbe prices that 
it bore in 1823.* They purchase almost every article they consume, 
foreign and domestic, at a reduction of from 25 to 50 per cent. Can, 
therefore, the nullifiers of South Carolina — and I put the question to their 
prime leaders, Judge Cooper (to whom the eliervescence chiefly owes its 
origin), Governor Hamilton, Mr. Hayne, Ex-Governor Miller, and Mr. 
M'Duffie — plead a tenth part so strong an apology as the Hartford Con- 
vention ? That they cannot, however they may wince at the question, is 
the award which posterity will pass on their proceedings. 



NO. 2. 

THIRD PROJECT. 

The chief grounds at present assumed to the South are, the uncon- 
stitutionality of the protecting system — and the oppression and robbery 
perpetrated on the South by the taiiff', which transfci-s, it is asserted, 
the property of the citizens of that quarter into the pockets of the citi- 
zens of the middle and eastern states; although so far as the constitutionality 
of the system is concerned, the practice ol the government and the opinions 

* Charleston, May 19, 1 823, prime uplands - - - 9 a Hi 

June 9, 183a, » " . . - - 10^ a 10 3-4 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 13 

of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Fisher Ames, 
and a host of other citizens of the highest standing, had sanctioned the 
constitutionaHty ot'llie measure lor above thirty years without tiie shght- 
est obiecliou beuig made to it — and aUhough, 1 repeat, every article suffi- 
ciently [)iotected, has been greatly reduced in price — seme of them 50 
per cent. 1 annex specimens of tlie style used by some of the advocates 
of " resistance." 

" We did think — we have alwaj's tliought, and we slill tliink, that tlio true and best 
policy for this country, or any other, is to meet encroaclnncnt at tlie very threshold 
with resistance — with Jirm^ unwavering, unldcnching resistance. Nothing has ever 
yet been or ever will be gained cither by nations or individuals, by pursuing a tempo- 
rising, prudential, calculating policy. It is a doubtful question wlietlicr prudence is at 
any time a virtue. It' it is, however, and there ever can happen circumstsnecs imder 
which it may cease to be so considered, we do most humbly conceive, that there c;in be 
no more appropriate an occasion lor it to throw aside \hat garb, than when tiie honour 
and the dearest interests of nations are implicated. It was in compliance with 
these principles, that we took the decided stand which we did in opposition to the usur- 
pations of the General Government — and called upon our State liegislalure, to JNULLI- 
¥Y 'I'llb] TARIFF LAW, and put the State immediately upon its sovercignl}'. — 
What we then said, we again reiterate, and we repeat it as the last official appeal which 
we shall ever make. In the spuit of patriotism, then, lellow citizens ol Soutli Carolina 
— by the injuries which you have sustained — by tiie shades of your revolutionary fa- 
thers — hy your l^inckneya, your Kutledges, your Draytons,your Mai ions — ly the lion 
soul of your liiing Sumpter — hy tiie manes oj Raivlin Lowndes, that man wlio opposed 
the federal Constitution, because he foresaw that it was nursing the Ncn aetn mon- 
ster that would one day strangle the liberties of tlie South — by the streaming blood of 
the constitution — by your violated league — by all you hold sacred 1o yourselvrs and 
dear to posterity— RISE UP AND REDRESS YOtR WRONCS! ! ! STUTKE 
FOR COUNTRY AND FOR HOME ! NOW'S THE TIME, AND NOW'STIIE 
HOUR. REMEMBER THAT PROCRASTINATION IS SLAVERY— AND 
FOPvCET NO'I', WE CONJURE YOU, THAT ONE HOUR OF VIRTUOUS LI- 
BERTY IS WORTH A WHOLE ETERNITY OF BONDAGE.— Southern Radi- 
cal, 18:28. 

" Let Congress be distinctly told, that either the general government miist recede 
from its pretensions to inordinate poicers, or the STATE MUST RECEDE FROM 
THE COMPACT : and sliould that government resolutely persist in the scheme of 
subverting our prosperity and sovereignty to their very foundation, let the governor he 
directed, hy proclamation, to open our ports to the vessels of all nations, not excepting 
even those of our northern friends or enemies. Let no customs he exacted, except hy our 
own officers ; and let all judges, magistrates, constables, and other citizens, he called 
vpon to support the state authoriti/ and laics, and be INDEMNIFIED FOR DISOBE- 
DIENCE TO FEDERAL AUTHORITIES. All this may he done wilhout the spill- 
ing of one drop of hlood. There will he no necessity for firing a gun. Let the United 
States government fire the first shot if it cliooscs. Better it would be tiiat it had been 
born with a mill-stone around its neck, than to try this. We must take care not to he. 
the aggressors IN THE SHEDDIN(x OF JiLOOW'—MinedfreriUe Journal. 

"THE MEMORABLE SCENES OF OUR REVOLUTION HAVE AGAIN TO 
BE ACTED OYER."— Idem. 

The preceding paragraphs afford a specimen of the language held res- 
pecting the Tariff of 1828, about the period of its passage. Wlien under 
discussion, it was obnoxious to both parties, and was called, I believe by 
both, "a Bill of abominations.'''' Some of its most odious features, be it 
observed, were introduced, or at least retained by southern votes. 

About ten years since, Mr. M'Duffie drew a most graphic picture of the 
motives of the men likely to attempt to e.Ycite hostility between the gene- 
ral and state governments, and, by necessary consequence, to dissolve the 

2* 



14 DISSOLUTION or THE UNION. 

Union. This picture met with the decided approbation of Major, now 
Governor Hamilton, who republished it with strong encomiums. Yet 
these gentlemen are among the most prominent leaders of the insurrec- 
tionary movements of South Carolina. How far this portrait applies to 
tiiem or any other of the leaders, 1 will not pretend to say. I leave that 
question to be decided by the reader. 

" Ambitious men of inferior talents, finding they have no hope to be distin- 
" guished in tht; councils of the national government, naturally wish to in- 
" crease the rowek, and conseauence of the state governments, the theatres in 
" WHICH THEY EXPECT TO ACQUIRE DISTINCTION. It IS not, therefore, a regard for the 
" rights of the people, and a real apprehension that those rights are in danger, that have 
" caused so much to be said on the subject of prostrate state sovereignties and consoli- 
" dated empire. It is the a>nltiiion of that class of politicians, who expect to figure only 
" in the state councils, and of those states loho are too proud to acknowledge any supe- 
" rior." — "One of tlie People." — Written by tlic Hon. George M'Duffic, member of 
Congress from South Carolina, And couiitersigned by Major Hamilton, now Governor 
of SoutJi Carolina. 

" He must HAVE READ THE LESSONS OF HISTORY TO LITTLE PURPOSE, WHO DOES NOT 
" PERCEIVE THAT THE PEOPLE OF PARTICULAR STATES ARE LIABLE TO FALL, OCCASIONALLY, 
" INTO A DANGEROUS AND MORBID EXCITEMENT UPON PARTICULAR SUBJECTS; AND THAT 
" UNDER THIS EXcItEMENT, THEY WILL IMPEL THEIR RULERS INTO THE ADOPTION OF MEA- 
" SURES IN THEIR TENDENCY DESTRUCTIVE TO THE UnION." Idem. 

" If, after the NationalJudiciary have solejnnly affirmed the constitutionality of a law, 
" it is still to be resisted by the slate rulers, the constitution is literally at an end ; a 
" revolution of the government is already accomplished ; and anarchy waves his horrid 
" sceptre over the broken altars of this happy Union .'" — Idem. 

What a revolting contrast between these holy doctrines, so overwhelm- 
ing and irresistible, and the insurrectionary doctrines promulgated in the 
recent manifesto, to which the name of Mr. M'Duflre is appended, and 
similar doctrines boldly announced in Congress and elsewhere by that 
gentleman and some of his colleagues : Hector, when proudly bedecked 
with the Achillean spoils, was not more different from the spectral Hec- 
tor who waked the affrighted iEiieas and warned him to flee from the fero- 
cious Greeks, than the Mr. M'Duffie of 1821, from Mr. M'Duffie of 1832. 
" Hei mihi ! quain mutatus ab illo" M'Duffie. 

" Shall we he terrified by mere phantoms of blood, when our ancestors, 
for l(ss cause, encountered the dreadful reality 1 Great God! are we the 
descendents of those ancestors — are we freemen — are we men — grown men — 
to be frightened from the discharge of our most sacred duty, and the vindica- 
tion of our most sacred riglits, by the mere nursery stories of raw-head and 
bloody-bones?" — Mr. McDuffie's Dinner Speech. 

Mr. McDuffie triumphantly and unanswerably refuted in 1821 the perni- 
cious and disorganizing doctrines on which the nullifiers rest the justification 
of the course they pursue — those doctrines which tend to lay the General 
Government prostrate at the feet of the State Governments, declaring the 
right of any individual State to repeal, or, to use the fashionable phrase, 
" m/i/i/^/" any law of the United States which it deems unconstitutional 
— doctrines utterly subversive of all government. 

" The state governments arc the absolute creatures of the people ; and have no politi. 
cal ponders not delegated to them by their respective conslilutions, and consistent with the 
coastitution of the United States. The states, as political bodies, have no original, in- 
herent riishts. That they have such rights is a false, dangerous, and anti-republi- 

CAM ASSUMPTION, WHICH LURKS AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL THE REASONING- IN FAVOUR OF STATE 
rights." ,...,, .„ I • J 

'*The assumption of the state authortties mil appear still more glartng and unwar- 



DISSOIUTION OP THE UNION. 15" 

ivntahU., lohen we reflect, that whatever is assumed as a "state right,'''' pertains equally 
to every state in the Union, separately and individually " 

" I cnn conscientiously say, (and I stand upon constitutional ground when I say so,) 
that / have, as a citizen of the Union, precisely as much confidence in the general gov- 
ernment as I have in the Govemnicnt of my own state, and infinitely 7nore than 1 can 
oroiK'htto have in the government of the other states. I tliink loo lii^lily of tlu; people 
of the United States, to suppose that they will t<)k!ratc any oncroachmciits of the na- 
tional sjovernnunt, that shall endaufrcr their lihiity. As to those imogivary rights, 
that are by some supposed to aist in the states, in contradistinction to the people of the 
slates, I neither understand rwr regard them. They are mere sounds, used iy misgui- 
ded or designing men, for the advancement of their populaiily in particular sections of 
the Union." 

" We have more cause of apprehexsion from the states, than from the general 
government ; or, in other words, there is in our system a greater tendency to 
disunion than to consolidation." 

" The laws of the Union, clothed with the most solemn sanctions of the constitution, 
have been, under the extreme pressure of local emharrassment, ahsolutely resisted iy the 
state aui.hoiities. After the supreme tribunal of the country pronounced an act ot Con- 
gress constitutional, and, consequentlj', ^/;e supreme law of the land, a state government 
Jiivs openly opposed its execution. It will be readily understood, that I allude to the 
embarrassing conflict ot authority between the general government and the state of 
Ohio, in relation to the National Bank. And I hesitate not to pronounce it oric of the 
most portentous events that has occurred since the adoption of the federal conslitulion." 

"You assert that when any conflict sluJl occur between the general and state govcin- 
nients, as to the extent of their respective powers, " EACH PAR'J'Y HAS A RIGHT 
TO JUDGE FOR ITSELF I" I confess I am at a loss to know how such a proposi- 
tion ought to be treated. No climax of political heresies can be imagined, in which 

THIS iMIGIIT not fairly CLAIM THE JIOST PROMINENT PLACE. It RESOLVES THE GOVERN- 
MENT, AT ONCE, INTO THE ELEMENTS OF PHYSICAL force; AND INTRODUCES US DIRECTLY INTO 

A SCENE OF ANARCHY AND BLOOD. There is not a single power delegated to the general 
government, which it would not be in the power of every state government to destroy 
under the autliority of tiiis licentious principle." ^ 

" To suppose that the general government have a constitutional right to exercise cei tain 
powers, which must operate upon the people of the states, and yet that the government oi 
each state has a right tojix and determine its own relative powers, and ly necessary con- 
' sequ<^ce, to limit the powers of the general government, is to suppose the existence of 
two contradictory and inconsistent rights. In all governments there must be some one 
supreme power ; in other words, every question that can arise as to the constitutional 
extent of the [lowers of dift't rent classes of functionaries, must be susceptible of a legal 
and peaceable determination by sonic tribunal of acknowledged authorit)', or lorce 
must be the inevitable consequence. And where force begins, government ends." 

"Tliere ?s no incidental power more clearly given l.ythc Constitutioi\' and even i;ou 
admit incidental pouters) and certainly there is none at once more harmless and saluta- 
ry, than that of making internal impi ovements." — Mr. McDulHe's '' One of tlie People." 

Let me observe further, that Judge Cooper and Mr. Calhotin, at no 
very distant day, were among the most prominent advocates of the pro- 
tecting system, which they now denoui'ce as unconstituticnal, and ground 
^ the resistance to its operation, i. e. rebellion, which they unequivocally ad- 
vocate, on its unconstitutionality ! 

These are strong facts deserving of the most serious attention of all 
who have any interest in the welihre, prosperity, and peace of the coun- 
try. The former and present opinions of these four gentlemen are as dia- 
metrically opposite as the highest empyrean and the lowest ahysses cf 
Erebus. If they were correct at the former period, as, on a fair view of 
the subject, it appea;s tltey were, they must be radically and incurably 
wrong at present, and therefore are wholly unsafe guides, on a quei-tion of 
such mighty importance to the whole civilized world, as a dissolution of 
the Union, for " disguise it as they may," that is the precise meaning of 
nullification — a question on which a false step is irremedial^le. 



16 DISSOLUTION or THE UNION. 

So extraordinary are the hallucinations to which nations are subject in 
times of great effervescence, and from which men of enlightened minds 
Ccmnot claim an exemption, that nothing of this description ought to sur- 
prise us much. History is replete with examples. I shall quote two or 
three sti'iking instances in our own short experifnce. 

During the administration of Gen. Washington, no small portion of the 
Democrats believed that Jay's 'IVeaty was the result of a corrupt barirain 
with the Court of St. James's ; and that one of its objects was to distress 
France, and to commit us in hostility with that country ; and many of them 
believed that the signature of that treaty cancelled all the debt of gratitude' 
due by this country to the illustrious Washington. Others among them, 
(Mr. Jefferson was one,) were persuaded that the western insurrection 
was nothing more than a mere riot, and that the army was sent to the 
westward to create an insurrection ! 

Not to be outdone in f(:)lly, a large portion of the federalists were per- 
suaded that Mr. Jefferson and his cabinet were actually in the pay of 
Bonaparte : that the war of 1812 was wanton and unprovoked : that 
it was intended to aid him in his wild attempt upon Russia: that Great 
Britain with her thousand ships of war had done us no wrong : and that 
that nation was at all times ready to make arrangements with us on ho- 
nourable terms, but that Mr. Jefferson repelled her advances ! 

It remains to be seen whether equal hallucinations at least do not pre- 
vail at the South at present. HAMILTON. 

IVO. 3. 

At the last session of Congress, the 'tariff of 1838 was taken up in the 
spirit of compromise, and numerous modifications were made, by some of 
which the interests of piirticular branches of manufictures were mate- 
rially injured. It was findly hoped that these modifications would allay 
the effervescence in South Carolina, and arrest the insurrectionary move- 
ments in that stale. But unfortunately the expectation was vain — for the 
leaders have become more violent and more determined to carry into effect 
their destructive schemes. 

For we are gravely assured, and in a solemn appeal to the heated pas- 
sions of the southern States, by citizens of high standing : — Messrs. 
Ilayne and Miller, of the Senate, and Messrs. M'Duffie, Davis, Folder, 
Griffin, Nuckolls, and Barnwell, of the House of Representatives, that the 
new tariff is more oppressive to the southern states, than that of 1828 ! ! 

" Tli.e burdens of the Protecting Dutiks are decidedhj increasetl, eslirm- 
tinof the cash duties and diminished credits at an average of more than fit'iy per 
cent, while the duties on the unprctecLed arlides, which, upon every principle of 
equility an:l justice, should sustain the principal part of the burdens of taxation, 
are, with a few inconsiderable exceptions, entirely repealed. 

" Upon those manufactures which are received in exchantje for the staple pro- 
ductions of the Southern States, thk aggrkgatic incrkase of the bukde.vs 

OF TAXATION, beyond WHAT THEV WERE UNDER THE TaRIFF OF 1828, IS 

BELIEVED TO BE UPWARDS OF One Miulion OF DoLi.ARS !! ! While the re- 
duction or repeal of the duties on those imports which we receive in exchange 
for the productions of the Tariff States, [!] and are principally cunsumed in. 
those Stales, [/] amounts to about four millions of dollars. While, therefore, 
the agfrregate burdens of Taxation are diminished four millions of dollars by 
this Bill, the positive burdens of the Southern States are not diminished at 
all, and their relative burdens are very greatly increased!^' — Address of Messrs. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UiN'ION. 17 

Hayne, Miller, McDugte, Davis, Felder, Nuckolls, and Barnwell, to the Citi- 
zens of South Carolina. 

Let us test these assumptions by facts. 

i. Mr. M'Duflie has asserted, that the southern states pay forty per 
cent, of the revenue. The reduction by the new tarifij is from 6 to 
$10,000,000,— say tlie former sum. Forty per cent, on 6,000,000, is 
"3,400,000, reduced, accorduig to Mr. M'Duffie's own statement, from the 
contributions of the southern stales, is this large reduction more Lur- 
densome to tlie South ? 

2> The debate on cotton bagging in r''24, ncfii|,!ied eigiit o^ ten days. 
It was asserted that the addition oi a cent a square yard, would opejiiM 
most oppressively on. the cotton planters, and, if I recoll-Jct ngl.t!}', would 
tax them to the amount of above 100,000 dollars annually. The duty is now 
reduced 30 per cent., from 5 cents to 3|. Is this more burdensome 
to the South 1 

3. By the tariff of 1828, baizes were estimated to have cost 50 cents 
per square yard, and were subject to 45 per cent, on that rate, or 22^ 
cents per square yard. By the new tariff they are subject to 16 cents 
per square yard. Is this more burdensome to the South 1 

4. By the tariff of 1S28, blankets were subject to 38^ per cent. duty. 
By the new tariff, those which cost below 75 cents, are to pay 5 per cent. 
Those above 75 cents, pay 25. Is this more burdensome to the South 1 

5. Iron, in bars or bolts, was subject to $37 per ton. It is now to pay 
30. Is this more burdensome to the South ? 

6. Kendal cottons, paid 14 cents per square yard, equal to about 60 
per cent. They are to pay 5 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the 
South? 

7. Brown sugar paid 3 cents per lb. It is to pay 2|. — The reduction 
is 16| per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

6, White, clayed, or powdered sugar paid 4 cents per lb. It is now to 
pay 3^ cents per lb. The reduction is, Ipf per cent. Is this more bur- 
densome to the South ? 

9. Teas of various kinds, paid duties averaging about 30 cents per lb. 
They are in future to be free. Is this more burdensome to the South. 
. 10. Cofiee paid 5 cents per lb. by the tariff of 1828 — and by that of 
1830, one cent. It is now free. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

11. Woollen goods, by the minimum arrangement of 1828, were subject 
to duties which might, and occasionally did, amount to upwards of 100 
per cent. The minimum duties, which were more grievously complain- 
ed of than any other portion of the tariff, are abolished, and the duty is 
50 per cent, ad valorem. Is that more oppressive to the South ? 

12. Woollen goods not exceeding 33;'- cents per square yard, paid 14 
( ents per square yard, averaging from 45 to 50 per cent. They are to 
pay 5 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South ? 

13. Bombazeens, Norwich crapes, &c. paid 36 per cent. They are to 
pay 10 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

14. Silk goods fi'om beyond the Cape of Good Hope, paid 36 per 
cent. They are to pay 10 per cent. From this side the Cape, they 
paid 22 per cent. They are to pay 5 per cent. Is this more burden- 
some to the South '' 



18 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

15. Linens paid 27.5 per cent. They are to pay 15 per cent. Is this 
more burdensome to the South ? 

16. Hats, of Leghorn, straw, chip, &c. paid 55 per cent, besides a dol- 
lar minimum. They are to pay 30 per cent. Is this more burdensome 
to the South ? 

17. Wines, Madeira and Sherry, paid 50 cents per gallon. They are 
to pay 25 cents. Is this more burdensome to the South 1 

18. Wines, from France, red and white, averaged 12 1 cents. They 
are to average 4 cents. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

19. Worsted stuif goods, viz. bombazets, ratinets, moreens, lastings, 
&c. paid 27^ per cent. They are to pay 10 per cent Is this more 
burdensome to the South ? 

20. Hemp paid 60 dollars per ton. It is to pay 40. Is this mwe bur- 
densome to the South 1 

21. Wools, costing less than 8 cents per lb. paid, according to the tariff 
of 1828, 4 cents per lb., and 50 per cent, on the value. They are to be 
duty free. Is this more burdensome to the South ? 

22. Straw matting from China, of which large quantities are iaiported, 
pays at present 15 cents per square yard, equal to about 150 per cent. 
It is in future to pay 5 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

Various other unportant reductions have been made in the tariff, some 
of which 1 annex. 



23. Nankeens, from Cliina, per cent 

24. Window Glass, 10 by 15, p. 100 feet, 

25. Wool, above 8 cents oer lb. ■] 

26. Woollen hosiery, gloves, niits, &c 

27. Wood, manufactures of, 

28. Copper, vessels of, 

29. Side and fire arms, 

30. Adzes, axes, &c. . - . . 

31. Clothing-, ready made, 

32. Cypherinfr slates, 

33. Haircloth, . - . . . 

To tlio articles at present exempt from duty, the followuig arc to be added, from the 
3d of March, 1833, — Cocoa, almonds, cnrrantK, pnmos, fig-s, raisins, black pepper, gin- 
ger, mace, nutmegs, cinnamon, cassia, cloves, pimento, crude saltpetre, flax unmanu- 
factured, quicksilver, opiiun, quille unprepared, tin in plates and sheets, unmanufactur- 
ed marble, argol, gum Arabic, gum Senegal, epaulettes of gold and silver, lac dye, mad- 
der, nuts and berries used in djang, saffron, turmeric, woad and pastel, aloes, amber- 
gris, burgundy pitch, Peruvian bark, cochineal, capers, chaniomilc flowers, coriander 
seed, cantharides, castanas, catsup, chalk, coculus Indicus, coral, dates, Alberts, fil- 
tering stones, horn plates lor lanterns, ox horns, India rubber, ipecacuanha, ivory un- 
manufactured, juniptr berries, musk, nuts of all kinds, olives, oil of jimipcr, paintings 
and drawings, rattans unmanufactured, reeds unmanufactured, rhubarb, rotten stone, 
tamarinds, tortoise shell, tin foil, sliellac, sponges, sago, lemons, limes, pine apples, 
cocoa nuts and shells, irris'or r.rris root, arrowroot, fjal ammoniac, Colombo root, annatto, 
anniseed, oil of nnniseed, oil of cloves, cummin seed, sarsaparilla, balsam tohi, assafbc- 
lida, ava root, alcoiiaoquc, canella alba, cascarilla, Ilacrlem oil, hartshorn, manna, 

* In these tables, the duties are stated as actually paid — that is to say, the ten per 
cent, added at the custom house (o the amount of the invoice, is heru added ^ the duty. 
Thus a nominal only of 30 was really a duty of 33 per cent. 







]828. 


18.32. 


- 




30 


20 


;, 


- 


$5 


- $4 




4 


cents per lb. 


4 cents, and 




and 55 per ct. 


40 per cent. 


per ct. 




38.5 


- 25 


do. 




33 


25 


. do. 




38.5 - 


25 


do. 




33 


- 25 


do. 




38.5 - 


30 


do. 




55 - 


- 50 


. do. 




30.33 - 


- 25 ■ 


do. 




33 


1.5* 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 19 

senna, tapioca, vanilla beans, oil of almonds, nux vomica, amber, platina, busts of mar- 
ble, metal or plaster ; casts of bronze or plaster, strings of musical instruments, flints, 
kelp, kcnnes, pins, needles, mother of pearl, hair unmanufactured, hair pencils, Brazil 
paste, tartar crude ; vegetables, such as arc used principally in dying and in composing 
dyes, &c. &c. And ftirther, — All articles not enumerated in this act, and wJiich are 
now liable to an ad valorem duty of 15 per cent, (except tartar emetic, Rociiellc salts, 
sulphate of quinine, calomel,corrosive sublimate, sulphate of magnesia and glaubcr salts,) 
arc henceforth free of duty. Arc these exemptions more burdensome to the South '.' 

It is confidently asserted by the nullifiers and their friends, that the al- 
teration of the currency of the pouhd sterling from 444 cents to its leaL 
value, 480 cents, and the reduction of the credits from an average of 
about ten months to four, more than countervail the reduction ol' the duties, 
and thus render the new tarifFmore bui»densome than the old. Let us test 
this assertion by figures : 

We will take ill, 000 sterling wortli of adzes, axes, &,c, whicli paid 30 per cent. 
under the old tariff, and will pay 25 per cent, under the new. 

1828. 188:?. 

tl,000 equal to $4444 44 jCl.tfOO, equal to - - ^M ,800 00 

10 per cent, added, 444 44 



Duty 30 per cent. - - 1,460 6G 
Deduct 6 months' discount, at 

4 per cent, per annum, 28 00 



4,888 88 25 per cent. - - 1,200 GO 

Difference in favour of tiie importer, 232 6G 



1,432 66 1,432 6G 

The discount allowed for prompt payment by government is only 4 per cent. The 
credit formerly averaged 10 montlis ; at present it is about four, for all except woollens, 
on which there is no credit : making a difference of six months against the importer, 
under the present tariff, compared with the tariff of 1828 — and of the whole ten in 
regard to wooUens. 
£1,000 worth of hosiery at 35 per At 25 per cent in future. 

cent, in 1828. £1,000, equal to - - !|,4800 00 

£1,000, equal to - $4,444 44 



10 per cent, added, - 444 44 25 per cent. - - 1,200 00 
Difference in favour of tlic importer, 476 88 

4,888 88 

Duty, 35 per cent. - 1,71110 
Deduct 6 months' discount, 34 22 



Net duty - $1,676 88 $1,676 88 

It must not be overlooked that the alteration of the value of the pound 
sterling affects no imports but those from Great Britain, and even of those 
none but such as are subject to ad valorem duties. 

Here it is proper to make a solemn pause on the very verge of a 
tremendous precipice, one desperate plunge into which would lead to 
civil war with all its fearful aggregation of horrors. We find eight 
ciiizens, ranking among the first in the land, promulgating a document 
which is regarded — perhaps intended — as a signal to invite a single state 
to resist laws duly enacted by a majority of the representatives of the 
whole Union — a resistance which is neitlier more nor less than rebellion-— 
and this measure is urged on a ground, which, when fairly examiaed, 



20 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

vanishes, " like the baseless fabric of a vision, and leaves not a trace be- 
hind/" The assertion, that the new tariff is more burdensome to the 
South, than the tariff of 1828, is, as we have seen, not only unsupported 
by fact, but is most unequivocally contradicted by fact, and utterly desti- 
tute of the shadow of foundation. 

I will not allow myself to believe that these gentlemen attempted wil- 
fully to deceive the public. Their characters place them too high for 
such a suspicion. But that they have laboured under an hallucination 
as complete as any of those above atluded to, will hardly be denied. — 
And unhappily, an error on such an important subject, resulting from a 
want of careful investigation, may produce as fatal results, as an egre- 
gious, wilful misstatement. That these gentlemen have been most cul- 
pably remiss in committing themselves by such an erroneous document 
without due investigation, will not admit of a moment's doubt. And is it 
not highly probable — nay, almost certain — that they have fallen into 
equal errors in those metaphysical abstractions and dogmatic opinions 
which they and their friends have promulgated on this momentous sub- 
ject, by which the passions of the citizens of South Carolina have been 
roused to madness, and a portion of the state made ready " to renew the 
bloody scenes of the revoluti(fn V 

What a melancholy view this circumstance presents of human affairs ! 
On what slemler threads the peace and happiness of nations depend ! 
Here are, I repeat, eight citizens, who, from station, cultivation, and 
standing, are arrayed in the front ranks of society, who, for want of pro- 
per investigation, sanctioned with their honoured names, what is proved to 
be not only, not true, but the reverse of truth, of which ihe direct tendency 
is to destroy the peace and happiness of 13,000,000 of souls and their de- 
scendants — to array father against son, son against father, and brother 
against brother — to make a jubilee for the friends of despotism throughout 
the world-^to cover the friends of mankind with gloom and horror — 
and finally to give strength to the sickening and appalling maxim, that 
man is incapable of self-government ! Alas ! for human nature ! 



Thus we have seen three attempts to destroy the Union. Two of 
them, thank heaven, failed. May the God of infinite mercy, who has 
brought the country through so many dangers and difficulties, defeat and 
blast and wither the third ! " So mote it be'' 

The language of the different periods is different — tlie motives assigned 
for action are different— the pleas of justification are different-— but the 
grand object of all is the same— THE DISSOLUTION OF THE 
UNION— THE PERDITION OF THE SANGUINE HOPES OF 
THE FIRST AND BEST OF MANKIND THROUGHOUT THE 
CIVILIZED WORLD. LET ME ADJURE YOU, FELLOW CITI- 
ZENS OF THE SOUTH, -BY THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF 
THE ILLUSTRIOUS WASHINGTON, TO ASK YOURSELVES 
THE QUESTION, COOLLY AND CALMLY, ARE YOU PREPA- 
RED FOR THIS HIDEOUS STATE OF THINGS, AND ITS INEV- 
ITABLE RESULT, CIVIL AND SOCIAL WARS? 

HAMILTON. 

Philadelphia:! Avgust 2oth, 1832. 



THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION— No. HI. 21 

The eyes of the civilized world are now directed towards the Uni- 
ted States with intense interest. The despots, and friends of despot- 
ism, are elated with the hopes and the flattering prospect, that we 
shall be torn with factions — our government destroyed — and a full 
proof afforded, of the unholy doctrine that man is not made for self- 
government — a doctrine which goes far to justify all the arbitrary go- 
vernments that have ever existed — or that now or may hereafter exist. 
On the other hand, the friends of genuine liberty and human happi- 
ness, whose hopes of good and rational government, have greatly rested 
on the result of our experiment, begun under sueh favourable aus- 
pices, are in deep gloom and anxiety, lest all their fond hopes and 
wishes should be disappointed, by our folly, or our madness, or both. 
The " long agony will soon be over," as the nuUifiers, having by infi- 
nite address and management, indefatigable exertions, and distribution 
far and wide, of their insurrectionary doctrmes, wrought the people 
to a state of frenzy, are now driving matters to extremity, lest the ef- 
fervescence should subside. 

After having for months held out the delusive idea, that nullifi- 
cation was the best mode of preserving the Union! ! ! that it was a 
peaceful remedy!!! for all their grievances — after having thus 
brought the citizens, step by step, to the verge of the awful preci- 
pice, they presume there is no chance of retrocession, and throw 
OiT the disguise, and boldly and openly proclaim the necessity of 
a ^^dissolution of the Union." Had they originally announced 
these views, they would have been frowned down into insignifi- 
cance. But, well aware of this consequence, they concealed their 
ultimate views, until they had gradually excited the public pas- 
sions to madness, and prepared the citizens for the most violent 
and destructive measures — 

'* Sedition is a monster of such mien 
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen : 
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
We first endure — then pity — then embrace." 

The Columbia Telegraph has recently sounded the tocsin, to 
your tents, O Israel. Let it speak for itself. 

" The Union of these states is now virtualli/ dissolved, dissolved in the only 
place where it can be permanent, viz. in the hearts of the people. It is in vain 
to cry out for the preservation of the Union, when a century cannot eradicate the 
prejudices that already exist be' ween the people of the North and South. Is it the 
nature of man to love his oppressor? Is it the nature of man to love the liigh- 
wayman that presents a loaded pistol to his breast with one hand, while with the 
other he filches from his pockds the price of his hard industry ? 

" It may be asserted without the dread of refutation, that to preserve the Unicm 
is to continue the tyranny of your oppressors, and to rivet the chains of slavery. 
The present is not a time for cold temporizing policy. All disguise should be 
thrown off, and patriotism, (as in the days that tried men's souls,) should speak 
—THIS UNION MUST BK DISSOLVED. 

" The line between the oppressors and the oppressed, is as distinctly marked 
out as that betwixt the American Colonies, and the Crown of Britain in 1776. 
The cases are the same. It is the government against the people. And it is not 
m the power of human reason to controvert it. Let lories and consnlidationists 
cry «• Treason .'" " Treason J" and at the same time remember, that the same 

C 



22 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

exclamation drowned the echo of the voice of Patrick Henry, when, with elo- 
quencc unequalled, he gave that first impulse to the ball of the revolution, which 
established, at least for a season, the liberty of America. 

" I will not shrink from the responsibility of the assertion, that the true policy 
of the South is, to sf.pabati-: from the Uxion. To continue in union, is to 
continue like the fabled Atlas, to groan under the weight of a world on your 
shoulders." 



We set a glorious example to the nations of Europe, which some 
of them eagerly followed, with at least equal zeal, but unfortunately, 
in most cases, with very unequal success. France, after the loss of 
above a million of lives, hundreds of millions of money, and two 
revolutions, appears to be under a government more arbitrary than 
that of Louis XVI. Spain, which at one time had a noble form of 
government, that guarded equally against the iron hand of despot- 
ism, and the lawless ravages of anarchy, has succumbed to the arbi- 
trary sway of a despot, who, with base ingratitude, destroyed a large 
portion of the illustrious men who risked their lives and property, 
and spilled their blood, to pave his way to the throne. Portugal had for 
a short time, a free and liberal constitution, but has groaned for a year 
or two, beneath the sway of a modern Nero or Tiberius. Italy made 
some noble efforts at the resuscitation of her ancient glory and liber- 
ties, which unhappily eventuated in the exile, the incarceration, in 
subterraneous dungeons, the cruel tortures, and the ignominious death 
of some of the most enlightened men of modern times. Poland, after 
the most heroic struggles in the same- glorious cause, met with a still 
more lamentable fate. Not satisfied with the banishment of many of 
her noble defenders to the wilds of Siberia — the incarceration of 
others — the disgraceful execution of a portion — the janissary arrange- 
ment of scattering thousands of her children, through the provinces 
and among the serfs of Russia; the autocrat has blotted her out 
of the map of Europe. And to crown the whole, the late winds from 
Europe have brought us the appalling intelligence, that the mighty 
powers, Austria and Prussia, have conspired with the petty princes of 
Germany, to put down for ever all chance of liberation of that noble 
country, the birth place of some of the most exalted of the human 
race, almost without a hope of relief; for this unholy conspiracy has 
the command of such prodigious standing armies, as must be utterly 
irresistible by any of those desultory movements, which, under the 
peculiar circumstances of the case, the people can adopt: — and as all 
despots make common cause, should the forces of Austria and Prussia 
be insufficient at any future day, to crush the rising spirit of Germany, 
those of Russia will be ready to unite with them in the unhallowed 
crusade against the rights of man. 

And this is the auspicious moment which Governor Hamilton, ex- 
governor Miller, Mr. M'Duffie, Mr. Tumbull, Mr. Hayne, Judge 
Cooper, and the party to which they belong, and whose movements 
they in a great degree decide, have selected to countenance, as far as 
in their power, the impious designs of the conspiring despots of Eu- 
rope ; to rend in pieces the glorious fabric of our government by 
repealing, by the sic volo sic jubeo of a single state, a law of the U. 



DISSOLUTION CF THE UNION. 23 

States enacted with all the formalities prescribed by the Constitu- 
tion — a law of which the constitutionality has been duly recognised 
by the judiciary of the United States, the only tribunal competent to 
decide on it — a law the principle of which has been also recognised and 
advocated and strenuously urged on Congress by Gen. Washington, 
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, and also ably sup- 
ported by Mr. Ames, Mr. Clymer, Mr. Lowndes, &c. more espe- 
cially, in the most forcible and conclusive style, by Mr. Calhoun and 
Judge Cooper (now, by a strange change of opinion, among the warmest 
sticklers for the unconstitutionality of this law) and by successive 
Congresses for above forty years, during thirty of which its consti- 
tutionality was never called in question by any one, even of those 
who were violently opposed to many of its details: — in a word to rise 
in rebellion against the national authority ! and on grounds most se- 
verely reprobated by two of the leaders, Mr. M'Duffie and Mr. Hayne, 
in the year 1821. 

And what are those grounds? Let us have them explicitly stated — 
The doctrine in substance, (the phraseology is unimportant) is, that 
when a state believes a law unconstitutional, she may annul or " nul- 
lify''^ it within her own borders. This is nearly equivalent to the 
Polish liberum veto, the real source of all the calamities of that fine 
country for centuries, and which ultimately yielded her an easy prey 
to her rapacious neighbours. Instead of attempting myself a refuta- 
tion of this disorganizing doctrine, which is utterly incompatible with 
the permanence of government, and which, had it been acted upon, 
in the progress of our affairs, particularly in the case of the alien 
and sedition laws, would, at an early stage'of our career, have resolv- 
ed our confederacy into its original elements, I shall place before the 
reader the irresistible arguments of an authority to which the most 
ardent nuUifier in the state cannot object: 

" If, after tlie National Judiciary have solemnly affirmed tlie constitutionality of 
a law, it is still to be resisted by the ittate rulers, the constitution is literally at an end ; 
a revolution of the government is alrendy accomplished ,• and anarchy waves his hor- 
rid sceptre over the broken altars of this happy Union/ 

" You assert that wlien any conflict shall occur between the general and 
state goveinments, as to the extent of their respective powers, *' EACH PARTY 
HAS A RIGHT TO JUDGK FOR ITSELF!" I confess I am at a loss to 
know how such a proposition ought to be treated. No climax of politicai. 

HERESIES CAN BE IMAGI.VED, IS WHICH THIS MIGHT NOT FAIRLY CLAIM THE MOST 
PROMINENT PLACE. It RKSOLVES THE GOVERNMKNT, AT ONCE, INTO THE ELEMENTS 
OF PHYSICAL FORCE ; AND INTRODUCES CS DIRECTLY INTO A SCENE OF ANARCHY AND 

BLOOD. Tliere is not a single power delegated to the general government, which 
it would not be in the power of every state government to destroy under the 
authority of this licentious jjrinciple. 

" To suppose that the general government have a constitutional right to exercise 
certain powers, which must, operate upon the people of the states, and yet that the 

fovernmeat if each state has a right to fix and determine its own relative powers, and 
y necessary conseqtience, to limit the powers of the general government, is to sup- 
pose the existence of two contradictory and inconsistent rights. In all governments 
there must be some one supreme power ; in other words, every question that 
can arise, as to the constitutional extent of the powers of different classes of 
functiBnaries, must be susceptible of a legal and peaceable determination by 
some tribunal of acknowledged authority, or force must be the inevitable con- 
sequence. And where force begins, government ends." 



24 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

The reader will find it difficult to believe — but strange as it may 
seem, it is nevertheless true — that these vi^ere the sentiments of Mr. 
M'Duffie in the year 1821 ! Comment on the enormous discrepancy 
between those sentiments and the insurrectionary doctrines now pro- 
fessed by this gentleman as a nuUifier, would be an insult to the un- 
derstanding of the reader. 

With the essays from which the above quotation is extracted, which 
were signed "One of the people," Major, now Governor Hamilton, was 
so enchanted, that he collected them from the newspapers, and pub- 
lished them in pamphlet form with a strong commendation of their 
cogency and merits, of which the following forms a part. 

"The argument of * One of the People' is now presented in an unbroken 
succession, familiar to the most ordmarv, and gratifying to the most comprehen- 
sive understanding. THE TRUTHS THAT ARK UNFOLDED ARE IN 
THEIR NATURE ESSPINTIALLY IMPERISHABLE. Whatever may be 
the fate of our National Charter, whether our descendants are long destined to 
admire and worship that solidity which may give duration to its existence, and 
those proportions that now confer grandeur on its design, or, in a far different 
mood, to mourn over the ruins of so fair a fabric, equivalent tesl.imony will be afford- 
ed of the sacredness of the principles that are here inculcated ,- of their faithful 
conservation in the first case, or of the disastrous and desolating violation and neglect 
they will have sustained in the last." 

Few instances can be found in history, of a more lamentable in- 
consistency and change of sentiment, so fully fraught with the 
most mischievous consequences — a change from a rational, ardent 
defence of peace, good order, submission to government, and con- 
stitutional principles, to the open advocacy of principles subversive 
of all order, and leading most assuredly to a dissolution of the 
Union, and its certain attendant, civil war. When men of talents, 
influence, and indefatigable zeal* change their principles and 
adopt others diametrically opposite, according as times and their 
political views and prospects change — they are ignes fatui, cal- 
culated to lead nations to their ruin. Prudence, policy and sound 
sense proclaim them unsafe guides. 

It is time fearlessly to call things by their proper names — and 
therefore I venture to assert, that nullification is incipient ^* rebel- 
lion." Rebellion is defined to be, open or violent resistance to the 
lawful authority of a government. Nullification is resistance to a 
law enacted by the constitutional legislative authority of the United 
States. This is the first stage of rebellion. The second will take 
place, if the executive, as in duty bound, attempts to enforce the 
law ; violent resistance being determined on in that case. 

Omitting various conclusive arguments adduced in favour of 

* The zeal with which the nullifiers are actuated, may be readily conceived 
from the fact that they have printed in thirteen monihs 130,000 insurrectionary 
tracts, and, as I am given to understand, have employed a number of propa- 
gandists to spread tliem over all the southern states. During all this time, 
the friends of peace and union in the middle and eastern states, have looked on 
with the most culpable and pernicious indifference, and made no effort to coun- 
teract the effect of those inflammatory publications — so much more ardour is 
displayed to overturn than to support the government. In a late statement I 
greatly overrated the expense of those tracts, as they are by no means so large 
as I supposed. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 25 

the constitutionality of the protecting system, the merits of the 
question may be rested on the clear, explicit and unanswerable 
admision of the Free Ti-ade Convention, an authority, from which 
neither Governor Hamilton, nor Judge Cooper, nor Mr. M'Duffie, 
nor any of their friends, can appeal. That body stated that, 

" They admit that. Congress may countervail the regulations of a foreign 
power, hostile to our commerce. " 

Now I will assume, as a postulate, that if a foreign nation enacts 
^'regulations liostile to our commerce,''' in the shape of prohibi- 
tions, or prohibitory duties, there is no possible mode in which we 
can ^^countervail" those '■'hostile regulations," but by the recipro- 
cation of similar prohibitions or prohibitory duties. 

Thus the case is simplified, and rendered level to the meanest 
capacity — and we have only to ascertain whether such "hostile 
regulations" of "foreign powers" do actually exist to an extent 
sufficient to justify our high duties. This is a point soon settled. 

Almost all the nations of Europe exclude our bread stuffs, the 
chief dependence of probably 4,000,000 of our population, from 
consumption in their dominions, except in case of dearth, existing 
or impending. Now, I trust that no honourable man will deny that 
this is a clear and palpable ^^ regulation hostile to our commerce," 
and would, if it stood alone, warrant, according to the admission of 
the Free Trade Convention, and to the eternal principles of justice 
and self-defence, not merely the very highest duties we have ever 
imposed on any of the articles we import from those European 
nations, but absolute prohibition — for instance, of the brandies, or 
wines, or silks of France — of the iron wares, or cottons, or wool- 
lens of Great Britain — of the fruits or wines of Spain — of the gin 
of Holland — of the hemp or iron of Russia. We, however, pro- 
hibit nothing. But the prohibitory duties of Europe are not con- 
fined to our bread stuffs. Every article with which they can dis- 
pense, with scarcely an exception, is in nearly the same predica- 
ment. Great Britain imposes a duty of al)out 100 per cent, on 
rice — 1000 per cent, on our leaf, and 2500 per cent, on our manu- 
factured tobacco — and on our lumber and various other articles, 
duties from 200 to 2000 per cent, more than on similar articles 
imported from her colonies ! 

It may not be unnecessary to state a few instances. 

BRITISH DUTIES. 

From the United States. From British Possessions, 

Olive wood, per ton 169s. 6d. 12s.- 4d. 

Oars, per 120 299s. 3d. 19s. 6d. 

Spermaceti oil, per tun 532s. Is. 

Whale fins, per cwt. 1900s. 20s. 

Gypsum, per ton 31s. 8d. Is. 3d. 

Copper ore, per cwt. 12s. Is. 

These, out of fifty similar instances, are abundantly sufficient to 
prove the extreme inequality with which our trade is carried on 
with Europe, and to what a grievous extent we suffer from "/los- 
tile regulations of foreign powers. " 

And yet, mirabile dictu, we are threatened with rebellion be- 
cause we impose duties on British Manufactures, which, except 
in four or five instances, do not average above twenty-five percent. 



26 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. . 

Surely never was national delusion carried much farther, than in 
the senseless clamour with which the nullifying presses have 
abounded for years on this subject. 

No addition is necessary to the admission of the Free Trade 
Convention. It is decisive. But it cannot be amiss to add the 
conclusive reasoning of President Jackson, so often quoted, the 
force of which never has been and never can be impaired by the 
most talented advocate of free trade. Having premised that the 
states surrendered to the United States, the power of imposing 
duties on imports, '^with a view to the encouragement of domestic 
industry^" he adds — 

" If this poiver be not possessed by the General Government, it tnust be extinct. 
Odr political sistem would thus present the anomaly of a people strip- 
pep OF THE RIGHT TO FOSTER THEIR OWN INDUSTRY, AND TO COUNTERACT THE 
MOST SELFISH AND DESTRUCTIVE POLICY WHICH MIGHT »E ADOPTED BY FOREIGH 

NATIONS. This surely cannot be the case: this indispensable power, thus surren- 
dered by the states, must be within the scope of the authority on this subject, 
expressly delegated to Congress." — Presiderit JacksoiCs JMessa^e to Congress, 
Dec. 6, 1830. 

This overwhelming and unanswerable view of the subject is 
most earnestly and respectfully submitted to Col. Drayton, and 
the other leaders of the union party, who unfortunately believe in 
the unconstitutionality of the protecting sytem, and from that 
belief contend with their antagonists at an immense disadvantage. 

HAMILTON. 

Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1832. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION— No. IV.* 

At the last session of Congress, the tariff of 1828 was discussed 
in the spirit of compromise, and numerous modifications were 
made, by some of which the interests of particular branches of 
manufactures were materially injured. It was fondly hoped that 
these modifications would allay the effervescence in South Caro- 
lina, and arrest the insurrectionary movements in that state. But 
unfortunately the expectation was vain — for tlie leaders have be- 
come more violent and more determined to carry into effect their 
destructive schemes. 

We are gravely assured, and in a solemn appeal to the heated 
passions of the southern States, by citizens of high standing — 
Messrs. Hayne and Miller, of the Senate, and Messrs. M'Duffie, 
Davis, Felder, Griffin, Nuckolls, and Barnwell, of the House of 
Representatives, that the new tariff is more oppressive to the 
southern states, than that of 1828 ! ! 

" The burdens of thi Protrctimg Duties are decidedly increased, estimating 
the cash duties and diminished credits at an average of more than fifty per cent.; 
wliile the duties on the unprotected articles, which, upon every principle of equa- 

* This Essay was published about two weeks since, as No. TH. and intended 
to close the series But as some errors had escaped in it, and as it has been 
greatly impro\ ed in the arrangement ; it is presumed that its republication can- 
not be improper, at present. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 2T 

lity andji'stice, should sustain the principal part of thehurdens of taxation, are, 
with a few inconsiderable exceptions, entireli/ repealed. 

♦' Upon those manufactures which are received in exchange for the staple 
productions of the Southern States, the aggiikrate ixcnEASE of the BunnENS 

OF TAXATION, BEYOND WHAT THKT WEBE USDEH THE TaRIFF OF 1 828, IS BELIKVED 

TO BE trpwAHUs OF One MiLLioN OF noLLAKS ! ! ! while the reduction or re- 
peal of the duties on those imports which we receive in exchangee for the pro- 
ductions of the Tariff' States, [>] and are principally consumer/ in Uiim States, [.?] 
amounts to about four millions of dollars/ While, therefore, the ag-gregate burdens 
of Taxation are diminislied four millions of dollars by this Bill, the positive bur- 
dens of the Southern States are not diminished at all, and their relative burdens are 
very greatly increased /" — Address of Messrs. Hoyne, Miller, McDuffie, Davis, 
Felder, Nuckols, and Barnwell, to the Citizens of South Carolina. 

Let us test these confident statements by simple, undeniable facts : 

1. Mr. M'Duffie has asserted, that the southern states pay forty per 
cent, of the impost. The reduction by the new tariff, is from 6 to 
$10,000,000, — say the former sum. Forty per cent.on $6,000,000, is 
2,400,000, reduced, if Mr. M'Dufiie's own statement be correct, (and 
surely he at least cannot object to it) from the contributions of the 
southern states. Is this large reduction more burdensome to the 
South ? 

2. The debate on cotton bagging in 1824, occupied eight or ten 
days. It was asserted that the addition of a cent a square yard would 
operate most oppressively on the cotton planters, and, if I recollect 
rightly, would tax them to the amount of above 100,000 dollars an- 
nually. The duty is now reduced 30 per cent., from 5 cents to 3^. 
Is this more burdensome to the South ? 

3. By the tariff of 1828, baizes were estimated to have cost 50 cents 
per square yard, and were subject to 45 per cent, on that rate, or 221 
cents per square yard. By the new tariff they are subject to 16 cents 
per square yard; being a reduction of 30 per cent. Is this more bur- 
densome to the South? 

4. By the tariff of 1828, blankets were subject to 38,1 per cent, 
duty. By the new tariff, those which cost below 75 cents, are to pay 
5 per cent. Those above 75 cents, pay 25 ; being a reduction of 90 
per cent, on the former, and 35 per cent, on the latter. Is this more 
burdensome to the South? 

5. Iron, in bars or bolts, was subject to $37 per ton. It is now 
to pay 30; being a reduction of nearly 20 per cent. Is this more 
burdensome to the South ? 

6. Kendal cottons paid 14 cents per square yard, equal to about 
60 per cent. They are to pay 5 per cent. ; being a reduction of above 
80 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

7. Brown sugar paid 3 cents per lb. It is to pay 2|. The re- 
duction is 16 2-3 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

8. White, clayed, or powdered sugar paid 4 cents per lb. It is 
now to pay 35 cents per lb. The reduction is, 16 2-3 per cent. Is 
this more burdensome to the South ? 

9. Teas of various kinds, paid duties averaging about 30 cents per 
lb. They are in future to be free. Is this more burdensome to the 
South? 

10. Coffee paid 5 cents per lb. by the tariff of 1828— and by that 



38 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

of 1830, one cent. It is now free. Is this more burdensome to the 
South? 

11. Woollen goods, by the minimum arrangement of 1828, were 
subject to duties which might, and occasionally did, amount to up- 
wards of 100 per cent. The minimum duties, which were more 
grievously complained of than any other portion of the tariff, are 
abolished, and the duty is 50 per cent, ad valorem. Is this more 
oppressive to the South? 

12. Woollen goods not exceeding 333 cents per square yard, paid 
14 cents per square yard, averaging from 45 to 50 per cent. They. 
are to pay 5 per cent. ; being a reduction of from 80 to 90 per cent. 
Is this more burdensome to the South? 

13. Bombazeens, Norwich crapes, &:c. paid 36 per cent. They 
are to pay 10 per cent.; being a reduction of above 70 per cent. Is 
this more burdensome to the South? 

14. Silk, goods from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, paid 36 per 
cent. They are to pay 10 per cent. From this side the Cape, they 
paid 22 per cent. ; they are to pay 5 per cent, being a reduction of 70 
per cent, in the one case, and 80 per cent, in the other. Is this more 
burdensome to the South? 

15. Linens paid 27.5 per cent. They are to pay 15 per cent.; 
being a reduction of about 45 per cent. ' Is this more burdensome to 
the South ? 

16. Hats, of Leghorn, straw, chip, <fec. paid 55 per cent., besides 
a dollar minimum. They are to pay 30 per cent, ; being a reduction 
of about 45 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

17. Wines, Madeira and Sherry, paid 50 cents per gallon. They 
are to pay 25 cents ; being a reduction of 50 per cent. Is this more 
burdensome to the South? 

18. Wines, from France, red and white, averaged 121 cents. They 
are to average 4 cents ; being a reduction of 66 per cent. Is this 
more burdensome to \he South ? 

19. Worsted stuff goods, viz. bombazets, ratinets, moreens, last- 
ings, &c. paid 27| per cent. They are to pay 10 per cent.; being a 
reduction of above 60 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the 
South? 

20. Hemp paid 60 dollars per ton. It is to pay 40; being a reduc- 
tion of 331 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

21. Wools, costing 8 cents per lb. paid, according to the tariff of 
1828, 4 cents per lb., and 50 per cent, on the value. They are to be 
duty free. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

22. Straw matting from China, of which large quantities are im- 
ported, pays at present 15 cents per square yard, equal to about 150 
per cent. It is in future to pay 5 per cent. ; being a reduction of about 
145 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South? 

23. Nankeens from China, pay at present 30 per cent.: by the new 
tariff they are to pay 20 per cent. ; being a reduction of duty of 33 
per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South ? 

24. Window glass, 10 by 15, pays at present $5 per hundred feet. 
It is henceforward to pay $4 ; being a reduction of 20 per cent. Is 
this more burdensome to the South ? 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 29 

25. Woollen hosiery, mits, gloves, &c. pay at present 38ii per 
cent. They are in future to pay 25 ; being a reduction of about 35 
per cent. Is this reduction more burdensome to the South ? 

26. Vessels of copper pay at present 885 per cent. They are to 
pay 25 per cent. ; being a reduction of about 35 per cent. Is this 
more burdensome to the South? 

27. Hair cloth pays 33 per cent. It is to pay 15; being a reduc- 
tion of about 60 per cent. Is this more burdensome to the South ? 

28. Wool, above 8 cents per lb. paid 4 cents per lb. and 55 per 
cent. It is in future to pay 4 cents per lb. and 40 per cent, on the 
value ; being a reduction on the ad valorem of nearly 30 per cent. Is 
this more burdensome to the Soutli ? 

29. Manufactures of wood paid 33 per cent. They are to pay 25 
per cent.; being a reduction of nearly 25 per cent. Is this more 
burdensome to tlie South ? 

30. Side and fire arms pay 33 per cent. They are to pay 25 in 
foture ; being a reduction of nearly 25 per c.ent. Is this more burden- 
some to the South? 

31. Adzes, axes, &c. pay 38;| percent. They are in future to pay 
30 ; being a reduction of above 20 per cent. Is this more burdensome 
to the South ? 

32. Cyphering slates pay 36 ^ per cent. They are to pay 25 per 
cent. ; being a reduction of 30 per cent. Is this more burdensome to 
the South ?* 

Here we see that various reductions have taken place, some 16 2-3, 
20, 50, 70, &c. percent, on cotton bagging, blankets, baizes, Kendal cot- 
tons, woollen goods of low price, bombazeens, Norwich crapes, silks, 
linens, hats, wines, hemp, low priced wools, straw matting, nankeens, 
woollen hosiery, vessels of copper, adzes, axes, &c. &c.most of them 
articles of general use in the Southern States; and yet we are assured 
that the new tariff is more burdensome than the old ! ! ! ! And Mr. 
Hayne, in his late address has stated, that 

" The general character of the Bill was manifest on its face. It had clearly- 
aggravated the inequality and injustice of the system, by greatly reducing or 
taking off entirely the diuies on the unprotected articles, while THE DUTIES 
ON THE PROTECTED ARTICLES REMAINED SUBSTANTIALLY 
THE SAME!!!" 

And ag-ain : 

"Duties to the amount of §3,000,000 on the unprotected articles, have been 
entirely repealed — and upwards of a million more taken off, while the duties on 
the protected articles have remained substantially undiminished! ! .'" 

How stupendous the infatuation and excitement that could lead 
a towering mind into such an egregious error ! 

To the articles at present exempt from duty, the following are to be added, 
from the 3d of March, 1833. — Cocoa, almonds, currants, prunes, figs, raisins, 
black pepper, ginger, mace, nutmegs, cinnamon, cassia, cloves, pimento, crude 
saltpetre, flax unmanuflictured, quicksilver, opium, quills unprepared, tin in 
plates and sheets, unmanufactured marble, argol, gum Arabic, gum Senegal, 

* The existing duties in the above list are stated as actually paid — that is to 
say, the ten per cent added at the custom house to the amoimt of the invoice, 
is here added to the duty. By the existing arrangement a nominal duty of 30, 
is really a duty of 33 per cent. 

D 



30 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

epaulettes of gold and silver, lac dye, madder, nuts and berries used in dying, 
saffron, turmeric, woad and pastel, aloes, ambergris, Burgundy pitch, Peruvian 
bark, cochineal, capers, chamomile Howers, coriander seed, cantharides, cas- 
tanas, catsup, chalk, coculus Indicus, coral, dates, filberts, filtering stones, horn 
plates for lanterns, ox horns, India rubber, ipecacuanha, ivory unmanufactured, 
juniper berries, musk, nuts of all kinds, olives, oil of juniper, paintings and 
drawings, rattans unmanufactured, reeds unmanufactured, rhubarb, rotten stone, 
tamarinds, tortoise shell, tin foil, shellac, sponges, sago, lemons, limes, pine 
apples, cocoa nuts and shells, irris or orris root, arrowroot, sal ammoniac, Co- 
lombo root, annatto, anniseed, oil of anniseed, oil of cloves, cummin seed, sar- 
saparilla, balsam tolu, assafcetida, ava root, alcornoque, canella alba, cascarilla, 
Haerlem oil, hartshorn, manna, senna, tapioca, vanilla bean?, oil of almonds, 
nux vomica, amber, platina, busts of marble, metal or plaster ; casts of bronze 
or plaster, strings of mvisical instruments, flints, kelp, kermes, pins, needles, 
mother of pearl, hair manufactured, hair pencils, Brazil paste, tartar crude ; ve- 
getables, such as are used principally in dying and in composing dyes, 8tc. &c. 
And further, — All articles not enumerated in this act, and which are now liable 
to an ad valorem duty of 15 per cent, (except tartar emetic, Kochelle salts, sul- 
phate of quinine, calomel, corrosive sublimate, sulphate of magnesia andglauber 
salts,) are henceforth free of duty. Are these exemptions more burdensome to 
the South? 

It is confidently asserted by the nuUifiers and their friends, that the 
alteration of the currency of the pound sterling from 444 cents to its 
real value, 480 cents, and the reduction of the credits from an average 
of about ten months to four, more than countervail the reduction of 
the duties, and thus render the new tariff more burdensome than the 
old. Let us test this assertion by figures : 

We will take £1,000 sterling worth of adzes, axes, &c. which paid 30 per 
cent, under the old tariff, and will pay 25 per cent, under the new. 

1828. 1832. 

£1,000 equal to $4444 44 £1,000 equal to - - $4,800 00 



10 per cent, added, 444 44 



Duty 30 per cent. - - 1,466 66 
Deduct 6 months' discount, at 

4 per cent, per annum,* 29 00 



4,888 88 Duty 25 per cent. - - 1,200 00 
Difference in favor ofimporter, 237 66 



1,437 66 1,437 66 



£1,000 worth of hosiery at 35 per At 25 per cent, in future. 

cent, in 1828. £1,000, equal to - - $4800 00 

£1,000, equal to - $4,444 44 

10 per cent, added, - 444 44 Duty 25 per cent. - - 1,200 00 

Differenceinfavor of importer, 476 88 

4,888 88 



Duty, 35 per cent. - 1,711 10 
Deduct 6 months' discount, 34 22 

Net duty - $1,676 88 $1,676 83 

• The discount allowed for prompt payment by government is only 4 per cent. 
The credit formerly averaged 10 months ; at present it is only four, for all ex- 
cept woollens, on which there is no credit : making a difference of six months 
against the importer, under the present tariff, compared with the tariff of 182i» 
— and of the whole ten, in regard to woollens. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 31 

It must not be overlooked, that the alteration of the value of the 
pound sterling affects no imports but those from Great Britain, and 
even of those none but such as are subject to ad valorem duties. 

Philad'a. Sept. 8, 1832. HAMILTON. 

DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION.— NO. V. 

Here it is proper to make a solemn pause on the very verge of a 
tremendous precipice, one desperate plunge into which would lead to 
civil war with all its fearful aggregation of horrors. We find eight 
citizens, ranking among the first in the land, promulgating a document 
which is regarded — perhaps intended — as a signal to invite a single 
state to resist laws duly enacted by a majority of the representatives 
of the whole Union — a resistance which is neither more nor less than 
rebellion — and this measure is urged on a ground, which, when fairly 
examined, vanishes, '■'■like the baseless fabric of a vision, and leaves 
not a trace behind." The assertion, that the new tariff is more bur- 
densome to the South, than the tariff of 1828, is, as we have seen, not 
only unsupported by fact, but is most unequivocally contradicted by 
fact, and utterly destitute of the shadow of foundation. 

I will not allow myself to believe that these gentlemen attempted 
wilfully to deceive the public. Their characters place them too high 
for such a suspicion. But that they have laboured under an halluci- 
ation as complete as any of those above alluded to,* will hardly be de- 
nied. — And unhappily, an error on such an important subject, resulting 
from a want of careful investigation, may produce as fatal results, as 
an egregious, wilful misstatement. That these gentlemen have been 
most culpably remiss in committing themselves by such an erroneous 
document without due investigation, will not admit of a moment's 
doubt. And is it not higlily probable — nay, almost certain — that 
when they have thus egregiously erred on a simple question of mat- 
ter of fact, where the error was discoverable in five minutes' examina- 
tion, they have fallen into equal errors in those metaphysical abstractions 
and dogmatic opinions which they and their friends have promulgated 
on this momentous subject, by which the passions of the citizens of 
South Carolina have been roused to madness, and a portion of the state 
made ready " to reneiv the bloody scenes of the revolution P'''' 

What a melancholy view this circumstance presents of human af- 
fairs ! On what slender threads the peace and happiness of nations 
depend ! Here are, I repeat, eight citizens, who, from station, culti- 
vation, and standing, are arrayed in the front ranks of society, who, for 
want of proper investigation, have sanctioned with their honoured 
names, what is thus plainly and irrefutably proved to be not only not 
true, but the reverse of truth, of which the direct tendency is to destroy 
the peace and happiness of 13,000,000 of souls and their descendants 
— to array father against son, son against father, and brother against 

• See page 16. 



32 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

brother — to make a jubilee for the friends of despotism throughout the 
world — to cover the friends of mankind with gloom and horror — and 
finally to give strength to the sickening and appalling maxim, that man 
is incapable of self-government ! Alas ! for human nature ! 

It now remains to sum up, in brief, the leading heads of this 
mighty question, so as to place it in a coup d'ceil before the reader. 

1. The first Congress embraced some of llie members of the 
federal Convention, who in Congress zealously advocated the 
protecting system, and must have known the intent and meaning 
of the instrument they devised themselves. 

2. The second act of that Congress, declared in its caption, 

"Whereas it is necessary for the support of government — for the discharge 
of the debts of the Ui.ited States, and the uncouhagemdnt of manufactures, 
that duties be laid on goods, wares and merchandize imported." 

3. All the Congresses from the year 1789, to the present time, 
have enacted protecting duties, and generally by considerable 
majorities. 

4. For thirty years the constitutionality of the system was ne- 
ver once called in question. 

5. Judge Cooper and Mr. Calhoun, now among the most zea- 
lous opposers of the system, on the ground of unconstitutionality, 
were its ardent advocates; the former in 1813, and. the latter in 
1816!! 

6. Mr. Lowndes, as pure, as sound, and as enlightened a states- 
man as ever lived, advocated, in 1816, the minimum duty on Cot- 
tons, the highest duty ever imposed in this country before 1828, 
and also the protection of woollens.* 

7. Six of the eight representatives from South Carolina, Mr. 
Calhoun, Mr. Chappell, Mr. Lowndes, Mr. Mayrant, Mr. Middle- 
Ion and Mr. Woodward, voted for that duty. 

8. Four Presidents, General Washington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. 
Madison and Mr. Monroe, urged the protecting system on Con- 
gress. 

9. Can it for a moment be pretended — can the tnost ardent, 
unflinching, and determined nullifier, venture to assert — that Gen. 
Washington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Lowndes, Judge 
Cooper in 1813, and Mr. Calhoun in 1816, were less gifted, less 
sagacious to expound the constitution, or less attached to its 
spirit, than Mr. Hayne, Mr. Calhoun and Judge Cooper, in 1832 ? 

10. Ml'. M'Duffie, in 1821, published a most overwhelming and 
unanswerable refutation of the doctrine of nullification. 

* "Mr. Lowndes enterpd into AN AMPLE AND PARTICULAR DE- 
FENCE OF THE SYSTEM REPORTED ON THE SUBJECT OF 
COTTONS, by the Committee of Ways and Means. National JntelUgcncer, 
March 22, 1816. 

"Mr. Lowndes observed, that he believed the m.a.nupacturk of woollens, and 

PARTICULARLV OF BLANKLTS, REaOIRED A DECIDKD PRESENT ENCOURAGEMENT. — 

Idem, March 18 IG. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 33 

11. Governor (then major) Hamilton, republished this refuta- 
tion, with the hip^hest approbation, declaring that ^^ the truths it 
contains are IMPERISHJiBLE." 

12. Both those gentlemen, together with Mr. Calhoun and Judge 
Cooper, who are now united in urging resistence to the go- 
vernment, were in the prime of life, with their faculties perfectly- 
matured, when they advocated doctrines, the antipodes of those 
they advocate at present. 

13. Can it be admitted, for a moment, that they were not as 
fully competent to decide on the rights and duties of the States, in 
1821 as they are in 1832 ? 

14. The country suffered intense distress from the close of the 
late war, till the close of the year 1823, when we enjoyed what 
may be called free trade ; that is, when our duties were low, and 
calculated almost altogether for revenue. 

15. Since the year 1824, when the protecting tariff went into 
operation, the country has been uniformly prosperous, except in 
the bubble year 1825. 

16. The talcs of the distress said to exist in South Carolina, 
are put down by last year's message of the governor, which con- 
gratulates the legislature on the prosperity of the state. 

17. Intense distress, far more than is asserted to exist at pre- 
sent, prevailed in that state from 1819 till 1823, before either of 
the obnoxious tariffs was passed; and therefore it was manifestly 
unjust, and calculated to lead the people astray, to charge any 
present distress, real or supposed, to the account of the tariffs of 
1824 and 1828. 

18. The chargeof the tariffs of 1824 and 1828, producing distress 
and suffering, was the origin of all the disaffection and the insur- 
rectionary spirit that prevail in South Carolina, and are spreading 
elsewhere — and though fully proved to be destitute of the shadow 
fo foundation, its effects continue with unabated virulence. 

19. The proceeds of the exports of South Carolina at present, 
are as great as they ever were since 1819, and her citizens pur- 
chase every article they want, whether foreign or domestic, at 
reduced prices, from 10 to 30, 40 or 50 per cent. Of course, they 
must be far more prosperous than they were before the enaction 
of those tariffs. 

20. Almost every article, without exception, that has been duly 
protected, has been improved in quality and reduced in price. 

21. While we are daily stunned with clamours about the danger 
of consolidation, the general government has been repeatedly 
bearded by some of the states — so that, as Mr. M'Duflie has just- 
ly observed, 

" We have more cause of apprehension from the states, than 

from the general government or, in other words, there is, in 

our system, a greater tendency to disunion, than to .consolida- 
TION." 

22. Mr. M'Duffie and his friends appear disposed to prove the 
truth of this position. 

23. The duties on at least 30 protected articles, are reduced from 



34 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

I65 to 145 per cent, by the tariff of 1832 ; and yet we are assured it 
is more burdensome to the South than that of \828\l 

24. The impost is reduced, 6 to 810,000,000, and yet the com- 
plaint is as great as if there were no alteration made. 

25. As our bread stuffs are generally prohibited in Europe, un- 
less in case of dearth — and as enormous duties are imposed on our 
rice, tobacco, lumber, Sec. See. our duties, are perfectly justified 
by the doctrine of the Free Trade Convention, that " Congress may 
countervail the regulations of foreign powers hostile to our commerce." 

26. Flour, when the bushel of wheat averages in England 5s. 
Tid. sterling, pays a duty of about 81 per cent., and when at 6s. 
3d. a duty of about 70 per cent. 

27. The great staple of Pennsylvania is, as I have stated, almost 
universally excluded from the ports of Europe for domestic con- 
sumption, unless in the case of dearth. The great staple of South 
Carolina is freely received in every port in Europe — sells at fair 
prices — and commands cash. Yet Pennsylvania submits — and 
S, Carolina is preparing for rebellion, because " countervailing" 
duties have been imposed on English manufactures, to make a 
market at home for the bread stuffs rejected abroad ! ! 

28. In consequence of our dependence on Europe for blankets 
and clothing, our armies suffered more during the early part of the 
last war for the want of proper clothing, than from the enemy. 

29. Nothing will satisfy the nuUifiers, but such a reduction of 
duties as would ruin hundreds of thousands of their fellow citi- 
zens. The most embittered enemy could not display more deadly 
hostility, than they do against those fellow-citizens. 

30. Ruinous and deplorable as a dissolution of the Union would 
be, it would not, at least for a considerable time, produce as much 
destruction and distress, as would immediately result from an 
abandonment of the protecting system. 

31. The dissolution of the Union, and the resolving the United 
States, "into their original elements," that is, separate confedera- 
cies, jealous of, and hostile to, each other, and the sport of foreign 
nations, would be a subject of universal rejoicing to despots and 
friends of despotism all over the world, and blast, and wither, and 
destroy the hopes entertained by the friends of mankind, of the 
practicability of republicanism— as we have had more advantages 
than any other nation ever had j and certainly at least as many as 
any other nation will ever have. 

32. In the event of a dissolution of the Union, as sure as the sun 
shines, so surely shall we realize, in a greater or less degree, the 
deplorable scenes that have torn the governments of South Ame- 
rica in pieces for twenty years; and our government will probably 
terminate, as some of theirs have done, in a despotism ! And for 
what ? on the construction of a clause of the Constitution, on which 
the nullifiers are in direct hostility with Gen. Washington, Mr. Jef- 
ferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Lowndes, Mr. Ames, and 
with Judge Cooper, in 1813, and Mr. Calhoun In 1816! Can his- 
tory produce a stronger instance of dire infatuation ? 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 35 

After the reader has calmly and dispassionately considered the 
above strong facts and fair deductions, let me ask him in the language 
of Col. Drayton, who boldly heads the illustrious band who are strug- 
gling to preserve the sacred ark of the constitution : — 

" Shall we, instead of availing ourselves of that Hide in the ajfairs of men, which, 
taken at thejlood, leads on to prosperous fortune,' abandon whatever is dear to us as 
patriots, whatsoever renown we have derived from our ancestors, whatsoever of glory 
we have acquired ahrnad, and whatsoever of liberty and happiness we have enjoyed 
at hornc; and rashly barter away these estimable treasures, to plunge into the vortex 
of Nullification ?" 

We have seen three attempts to destroy the Union. Two of them, 
thank Heaven, failed. May the God of infinite mercy, who has 
brought the country through so many dangers and difficulties, defeat 
and blast and wither the third ! " So mote it he" 

The language of the different periods is different — the motives as- 
signed for action are different — the pleas of justification are different — 
but the grand object of all is the same— THE DISSOLUTION OF 

THE UNION THE PERDITION OF THE SANGUINE 

HOPES OF THE FIRST AND BEST OF MANKIND THRO'- 
OUT THE CIVILIZED WORLD. LET ME ADJURE YOU, 
FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SOUTH, BY THE IMMOR- 
TAL MEMORY OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS WASHINGTON, 
TO ASK YOURSELVES THE QUESTION, COOLLY AND 
CALMLY, ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THIS HIDEOUS 
STATE OF THINGS, AND ITS INEVITABLE RESULT, CI- 
VIL AND SOCIAL WARS? HAMILTON. 

Philadelphia, Sept. 10, 1832. 



■^xj 



Ide'lO 



